Chateau De La Croë

Now owned by Roman Abramovich, Chateau de la Croë was once a haven for the Duke of Windsor and Wallis Simpson, the most stylish couple of the 20th century.

The Côte d'Azur was a favourite haunt of The Duke of Windsor, the King who gave up his throne in 1936 to marry the twice-divorced Wallis Simpson. In 1938, the year after their wedding, the couple took a lease on a 12-bedroom house called La Croë, on Cap d'Antibes. Located between Cannes and Nice, and in one of the most desirable spots in the world, the house was built in 1927 for an English press baron, Sir William Pomeroy Burton, and features a long lawn behind the house that leads down to the sea.

The Windsors were forced to leave the house for the duration of the war - travelling through Spain to Portugal and then on to the Bahamas where the Duke was appointed Governor by the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill. After the war ended, and the Windsor's dispiriting sojourn in the backwater of the Empire that was the Bahamas came to an end, they quickly returned to La Croë. In her fine book, Windsor Style, Suzy Menkes describes how on their return in the hot summer of 1946 they had to wait for the garden to be cleared of German landmines before they could re-occupy the house.

The Windsors were clearly untroubled by modern baggage allowances, having arrived at Cannes station with 118 Louis Vuitton travel trunks, each numbered and with its contents itemised. The Duke was conspicuously well dressed in a pale-brown silk suit, two-tone shoes, a panama hat and a silver-topped cane. The couple were transported through Cannes to the house in a limousine with The Duke of Windsor written on the doors. He might have given up his throne, but he certainly didn't give up his taste for the regal lifestyle.

La Croë was already partly furnished when the Windsors took it, but they filled it with linen, china, glass and furniture from the Duke's former English home Fort Belvedere, near Ascot. Despite this, the Duchess spent many months working with interior designer Elsie Mendl to decorate and furnish the house, some of which was designed to conjure up memories of Fort Belvedere, while other rooms were given a crisp and nautical blue-and-white colour scheme.

According to the Duke's biographer, Frances Donaldson, "throughout her [Wallis] life the beauty and splendour of her houses was equalled only by the quality of her food", and photographs of the elegant lounge furniture laid out on the terrace under the villa's grand colonnade depict a truly luxurious and welcoming scene.

The Duchess' good taste in food and decor came to the fore when the couple entertained - in high summer the guests sat at a chic little white table on the large lawn facing the sea, while footmen served them bite-sized sandwiches and champagne that was kept cold in ice-filled silver buckets. The men would be wearing silk dinner jackets, although the Duke occasionally indulged his penchant for wearing a kilt and playing the bagpipes to the delight, and bemusement, of his guests. These evenings would begin at 6pm when Alexandre, Wallis' hairdresser, arrived for his daily appointment with the Duchess, and would regularly go on to 3am when the Duke would finally retire to bed, leaving his guests to do the same (protocol dictated that other guests couldn't leave the party before Wallis and Edward). While the Duke once said, "Maybe WE [meaning Wallis and Edward] can make the Riviera all right again together," Wallis was sufficiently conscious of its slightly louche reputation to have chosen not to get married there - instead they were married at Chateau de Candé, near Tours.

The style of their return after the war, at a time when much of Europe was still suffering terrible food shortages, demonstrated their extraordinary capacity to live in an enviable bubble of outrageous privilege. La Croë was an important part of that bubble until 1949, when the Windsors gave up their lease on the house to move to Paris. However, that didn't mean they gave up their love affair with the Côte d'Azur, which the Duke's grandfather, Edward VII, had done so much to make fashionable decades earlier.

The photographs taken of the Duke and Duchess on the Riviera are evidence of their feeling for it, and their irreproachable taste in resort wear. Whether they depict the formally dressed Duke stepping off a plane in a silk suit, panama hat and correspondent shoes, or done up (in his words) like a "Mediterranean fisherman" in a Breton t-shirt and baggy blue trousers to walk his dog in Liguria's Portofino, he's a picture of comfortable style. It's no wonder he's still regarded as one of the best-dressed men of the last century.

Wallis, always supremely elegant, was in turn photographed before the war outside the Cannes branch of Cartier in a stripy pleated A-line skirt that reached past the knee, and a short sleeve shirt, looking chic and relaxed. The shots hint at the aimless nature of the couple's life together after the abdication, but they also present a blueprint for a hell of a good holiday.

THE BEST DRESSED COUPLE OF THE 20TH CENTURY? A HIS AND HERS GUIDE TO EMULATING THE WINDSORS' RIVIERA STYLE

THE DUKE GO BESPOKE.

The Duke had a famous Savile Row tailor, Mr Scholte, and was clearly a very loyal customer. His trousers, however, were made by a Mr. Harris in New York because the Duke didn't like Scholte's cut - a compromise the Duchess called 'pants across the sea'.

WEAR SUIT TROUSERS WITH TURN-UPS.

While the Duke didn't exclusively wear trousers with turn-ups (even he wouldn't put them on trousers for a dinner jacket), he wore them a lot at a time they were considered dubiously modern. His father, George V, once asked him if it was raining outside because the Duke was wearing turn-ups.

RISK SUEDE SHOES WITH SUITS.

Brown suede shoes are now commonly worn with grey flannel trousers, but when the Duke made this sartorial innovation he was breaking style rules. In his 1960 autobiography 'A Family Album' he admits to embarrassing his American hosts on a trip there in 1924 by wearing suede shoes.

BE BOLD WITH PATTERNS.

While the Duke writes about his wardrobe as if he was deeply conservative, his penchant for two-tone shoes, boldly hooped socks and the mixing of patterns was outrageous by today's standards. One particular photo of him in a paisley tie, bold gingham shirt and madras print trousers sums this up well.

WEAR SUITS CUT FROM HEAVY CLOTHS.

Today most suits are made from very fine cloth, which is easier to wear in centrally heated homes and offices. The Duke's suits, however, were quite clearly made from substantial and heavy fabrics. This makes them hang better, hold a better shape and gives them a greater depth of colour.

THE DUCHESS BE RICH.

The Duchess employed the finest dressmakers and designers. She had dresses made by Hubert de Givenchy, Yves Saint Laurent, Christian Dior, Elsa Schiaparelli and Balenciaga. When the couple travelled to America each autumn they took 27 Louis Vuitton trunks of clothes with them.

BE RESTRAINED WITH COLOURS.

In contrast to her husband's sartorial adventures the Duchess dressed formally. During the day she largely wore self-coloured suits and dresses. She was known to disapprove of the Duke's (relative) informality, once telling him he looked like a waiter when he wore a cream silk dinner jacket.

BE WELL GROOMED.

The Duchess was not given to shabby chic. Her hairdresser, Alexandre, travelled with her and styled her hair every evening. He drew sketches to illustrate his ideas for new styles.

WEAR JEWELLERY.

The Duke gave the Duchess countless pieces of fine jewellery, much of it from Cartier. Many of the designs were eye-popping for both their styling and their extravagance, such as a huge brooch in the shape of a flamingo covered in diamonds, rubies, emeralds and sapphires.

BE THIN.

The Duchess' elegance was predicated on her hard-won slim physique. When dieting, her daily menu consisted of orange juice and black unsweetened coffee for breakfast; a lunch of 200 grams grilled meat, tomato salad with lemon juice, one hardboiled egg and coffee; and supper of 200 grams grilled meat and grilled tomatoes.