The château of Schonenberg had been built between 1782 and 1784 for Albert of Saxe-Teschen and Marie-Christine, governors of the Austrian Netherlands. The annexation of 1795 made it national property; it fell into decay for want of a buyer. In 1804 the imperial state bought it as the Emperor's residence in the nine annexed departments.
The choice was political. These departments were recent, rich and facing England: power had to show itself at home there. Napoleon stayed several times, notably in 1810 with Marie Louise, during a long tour of inspection that also took them to Antwerp, which he wanted to turn into an arsenal — a pistol, he said, aimed at the heart of England.
The palace was furnished at the civil list's expense, with the usual suppliers of the imperial furniture service. Sovereign apartments, a chapel and outbuildings were fitted out; the park was redesigned. It is one of the few imperial palaces outside France that the Empire actually used.
After 1815 the château passed to the King of the Netherlands, then to independent Belgium in 1831. Leopold I moved in, Leopold II enlarged it considerably after a fire in 1890 and added the greenhouses. The building Napoleon bought has thus been, without interruption since, the home of a dynasty that owes its address indirectly to him.
