What makes French castles so irresistible isn't just their architecture – it's all the stories and histories that sit within the walls. After countless hours watching costume dramas about royal intrigue and power struggles, I'm sometimes unsure if I actually know more about the French succession than the Swedish one.
One of the castles that truly bears traces of history is Château de Chenonceau – the castle that King Henry II gave to his mistress Diane de Poitiers. With The Serpent Queen In my fresh memory, I traveled here to walk in the footsteps of some of France's most fascinating women.
The Cher River flows slowly past the Château de Chenonceau. But appearances are deceiving. Some tourists in rented motorboats have to push hard to get through, a sign that the current is stronger than it looks. After Versailles, Chenonceau is France's second most visited castle, but on this July day, the queues are still relatively manageable. We haven't even booked tickets in advance, but sometimes you have to be lucky.
The Loire Valley is not only fabulously green and beautiful, but the Loire River has been the lifeblood of France for centuries. The river has played an important role in both transportation, agriculture and defense. On the river, you could easily transport things all the way from the Atlantic to the middle of France, without the risk of robbers and bumpy roads. During the reign of King Francis I in the 16th century, the Loire Valley was transformed into “the place to be” for nobles and royalty, and everyone who considered themselves something built castles in the Loire Valley. Even today, there are over 300 castles in the region – in fact, almost 500 castles if you also count manor houses.
The Château de Chenonceau dates back to the 16th century, when the original medieval fortress on the site was demolished. All that remains of the angular fort today are the thick walls facing the river and one of the towers, which was partially saved for budgetary reasons. The rest became a new château in the modern Renaissance style – the most sought-after design style of the time.
We follow the stream of visitors towards the castle entrance and the start of the audio guide. Interestingly enough, the queue for the ladies' toilets is longer than the queue to visit the castle. Tourists' priorities have always been fascinating. I myself am fully committed to visiting the castle where one of France's most talked-about love dramas took place. The drama between the strong-willed Queen Catherine de Medici and King Henry II's cunning mistress Diane de Poitiers. A drama about power, passion, control and political influence that would shape the history of France for many, many years.
To make a long story short: Diane de Poitiers became the mistress of the future King Henry II during his early teens. She herself was already over thirty years old and newly widowed. Throughout King Henry's reign, it was Diane who pulled the strings in the background and had France around her little finger, even though the king was married to Catherine.
As a gift of love from Henry, Diane was given the castle of Chenonceau in 1547 and lived happily there until the king unexpectedly took a lance through the eye and died in 1559. Now it was the queen's turn to take control.. Catherine now became the guardian of her son, the new King of France, Charles IX. Bitterly, Catherine took the castle back from Diane and, as a power move, chose to move in herself. She lived here and ruled France for three decades until her death in 1589. It is almost as if you can feel the castle walls still vibrating with revenge and royal rivalries.
One of the main reasons why the castle has become so popular is its unique construction over the Cher River. No other castle in France is built over a river in this way. And we have two women to thank for this architectural masterpiece: Diane de Poitiers and Catherine de Medici.
When Diane received the castle as a gift of love, it was still a relatively modest little Renaissance castle on one side of the river. Diane built on the castle with an elegant bridge with five arches, which connected the castle with the other side of the river. But when Catherine took over the castle, she could not bear to inherit her rival's bridge. Instead, she rebuilt the bridge and added a two-story gallery. All to erase Diane's imprint on the castle and show her own power.
We stroll through room after room and listen to the audio guide. Amidst all the pomp and gilding, another story is told about bloody religious wars in the 16th century, the French Revolution and the suffering of the First and Second World Wars. The castle has not only been a royal residence but also a field hospital and escape route for the resistance movement. Stories that suddenly feel uncomfortably close in light of recent world events. A castle built for beauty, but which has seen several drops of blood and death over the years.
The interior that meets us in the castle today is mainly from the royal glory days. The walls are adorned with one of France's largest collections of tapestries and the paintings are painted by Rubens and Van Dyck, among others. The rooms are decorated with fresh flowers and the furniture is mainly from the 16th century, although of course not all the originals have survived over the years.
It's a bit exciting that this historical and priceless treasure is actually still privately owned – and by the same family that has cared for and managed the castle since 1913.
We continue through room after room with gilded headboards, carved chests of drawers and large candles.kronor. In several places the initials C and H appear, embellished by Catherine after Henry's death only to replace the previous initials D and H. A discreet but clear way to erase the rival – letter by letter. Snatch by snatch.
The audio guide follows me all the way out into the garden, although our engagement at this point is a bit up and down. In the garden we instead start to stroll freely. It is a beautiful garden, absolutely – but compared to Villandry which we visited the day before, it feels a bit more boring. Maybe I would have thought the garden would have been more enjoyable if the visiting order had been the other way around?
On the way out we take a quick detour to the vegetable garden, where apple trees, roses and vegetables grow neatly. Not a single weed is in sight – but with ten full-time gardeners, that’s perhaps not surprising. I barely have time to clear my small bed before the weeds reappear, so it’s still impressive that it’s so tidy.
I leave Chenonceau with a plan – to rewatch the TV series The Serpent Queen. Large parts of the series are recorded here on location, and I want to fill in the historical gaps that separate the TV drama from the audio guide's story. After the visit, it feels increasingly unclear who was really evil and good in the drama between Diane and Catherine. Perhaps Chenonceau is not just a love story, but rather the story of two strong and intelligent women who both shaped France in their own way. And perhaps that is precisely what makes history so fascinating – that there is rarely a simple answer to what really happened.
How do I get to Château de Chenonceau?
Chateau de Chenonceau is located in the Loire Valley, 3 kilometers east of Tours. It takes just over two hours to reach the castle by car from Paris.
The Loire Valley between Sul-sur-Loire and Chalonnes is classified as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO due to its historic landscape and hundreds of castles. Read more about the castle on its official website ✔ Welcome | Chenonceau.
Dogs on a leash are welcome in the park and if you have a small dog you can carry it in your arms inside the castle.
Do you want to read more about France? Look into my France page!
If you see this after your page is loaded completely, leafletJS files are missing.
