The new château of Meudon was assigned to the heir of the Empire, who spent the summers of his short French childhood there. It is also the cradle of military ballooning.

Historical context

Once the residence of the Grand Dauphin, the Meudon estate had remained among the possessions of the Crown and then the State. Napoleon assigned it to the household of the imperial prince: he needed somewhere close to Paris, healthy, easy to guard, and distinct from the palaces of power. The new château was put back in order and furnished for a child not yet a year old.

The King of Rome spent the summers of 1811 to 1813 there, under the governess of the Children of France, Madame de Montesquiou, whom he called Maman Quiou. Napoleon came to see him between councils; court witnesses describe a demonstrative father, which they had not expected. The child left France in April 1814, aged three, never to return.

The estate has another, scientific history. It was at Meudon that the ballooning school created by the Convention was set up in 1794: Coutelle prepared there the Entreprenant, the captive balloon used at Fleurus that same year to observe enemy lines. The company of aerostiers was disbanded in 1799 — by Bonaparte's decision, being unconvinced.

The new château burned during the war of 1870-71, like neighbouring Saint-Cloud, and was not rebuilt. The terrace, the orangery and the park remain, occupied since 1876 by the Paris-Meudon Observatory. The hill where the Empire's heir was to grow up has become a place of astronomy.