Chantilly Arts and Elegance

Here’s an event that takes the original concept of concours d’elegance and ramps it up several notches. There’s no more beautiful and elegant concours anywhere in the world, and we don’t think there ever has been. The venue is the sublime Château de Chantilly, 25 miles north of Paris. It was the work of Henri d’Orléans, Duke of Aumale, son of the last King of France, Louis-Philippe, and houses the second-largest collection of antique paintings in France after the Louvre. The concours utilises the château’s formal gardens and ornamental lake to display the concours cars new and old, with hundreds of additional classic vehicles from French clubs shown off in the grounds of the estate. But the château is also home to the Museum of the Living Horse in the adjoining Grand Stables, which allows stunning equine displays to punctuate the car features – and, in addition, there are art displays, craft demonstrations, children’s activities, music and dancing, and fashion shows. It really is the most civilised of events. We just hope that the news that the Aga Khan is to end his support of the château won’t affect the concours.