Burglars steal £2m after tying up owners of ‘mini-versailles’

FRENCH police are hunting burglars who tied up the owners of France’s renowned Chateau Vaux-le-vicomte near Paris overnight and made off with valuables worth nearly £2million.

The 17th-century castle in Maincy, southeast of Paris, served as a model for Versailles and has been the backdrop for a string of film and TV productions, including the James Bond film Moonraker and Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette. Vaux-le-vicomte is also a celebrity wedding venue, most notably for the 2007 nuptial party for Eva Longoria, the Desperate Housewives star, and French basketball star Tony Parker.

Early yesterday, six masked criminals broke into the private apartment of owners Patrice and Cristina de Vogue, aged 78 and 90 and took valuables including cash and emeralds from a safe. Police said the owners were unharmed and that the chateau remained open to visitors as normal.

The imposing castle was built between 1658 and 1661 for Nicolas Fouquet, Louis XIV’S finance minister who fell out of favour with the Sun King after staging a lavish party there shortly after its completion. He was subsequently imprisoned for life and King Louis seized the castle and moved its most precious belongings, including orange trees, to Versailles.

Its garden is considered a masterpiece of the jardin à la française, the French aesthetic of formal gardens that swept Europe in the 17th century.

The chateau is due to be open to the public as part of this weekend’s annual Heritage Days cultural event.