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Alexis – the Memoirs of the Baron de
Redé (ed) (2004)
Hardback (UK) 2004
Here are the long-awaited, in some cases
feared, memoirs of the Baron de Redé, a man
who lived his life at the heart of the beau
monde, and knew where the aristocratic
skeletons lie buried. He wrote of his
traumatic childhood, his courageous lone
voyage to the United States, and how he
caught the eye and the heart of one of
Europe’s most enigmatic figures Arturo
Lopez-Willshaw. Joining Lopez in Paris after
the war, he took on the restoration of the
Hotel Lambert. With Arturo, and indeed with
his wife Patricia, he attended or was host to
some of the great balls of the age.
Alexis de Redé was never far from the
epicentre of high society, and some of the
great artistic and social figures of the
twentieth century played cameo roles in his
life. His friendships were many, and
remarkably diverse, including Salvador Dalí,
the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Yves Saint
Laurent, Brigitte Bardot, Rudolf Nureyev,
Maria Callas, and Elizabeth Taylor and
Richard Burton.
In these sparkling memoirs, profusely
illustrated with images from his own
collection, he talked of his close friendship
with Arturo, and after his death with the
legendary queen of Paris society,
Marie-Hélène de Rothschild.
Alexis, Baron de Redé (1922-2004) will be remembered as the man who restored the Hotel
Lambert where he lived from 1949 until his death on 9 July 2004 at the age of 82. A man
of exceptional elegance and style, he lived a life in which aesthetic perfection was his aim
and his ideal. He hosted the magnificent Oriental Ball at the Lambert in 1969 and was the
last survivor of
a world in which magnificent costume balls were given and the beau
monde of the world invited.
Redé was born in Switzerland, educated at Le Rosey, but left to make his way in the
United States at the young age of 17. There he fell under the protection of the Chilean
millionaire collector, Arturo Lopez, returning with him to Paris, where presently he made his
home at the Hotel Lambert.
An exquisite host, whose lunches, dinners and parties were legendary, he was also an astute businessman.
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