Crown Princess Marie-Chantal and her daughter Princess Olympia opened the doors of their beautiful New York family home to our sister publication HELLO! Magazine . The Greek royal, who is of Ecuadorian descent, gave an exclusive tour of the beautiful Upper East Side property she shares with her husband Pavlos of Greece and their five children to the magazine, and explained all the details of the house refurbishment. "It is a very impressive building from 1913 but I felt it should be very much stripped back to show off the real beauty of the house's bones, nothing too fussy," she told HELLO! Princess Marie-Chantal once shared the gorgeous property with her parents, multimillionaire entrepeneur Robert Warren Miller and his wife Clara Pesantes Becerra.
Marie-Chantal worked with interior designer François Catroux to achieve the style she was after for the family’s big move to New York: "I brought all our artwork from London and we started from that. He was very adamant that the furniture should not dominate the rooms and I think we managed to achieve that.” The mom-of-five posed with daughter Princess Olympia in the bright and airy living room that proves exactly that.
© Kate MartinA Grand entrance hall
The house was previosly decorated by Marie-Chantal’s mother back in the Eighties, but as she explained to HELLO! “It was very dark and heavy.” The Crown Princess poses in the townhouse entrace featuring a Claude and François-Xavier Lalanne side table, Donald Baechler artwork and custom sofa in the style of Jean Royère.
© Kate MartinA magnificent staircase
The property is ideal for entertaining, something very important bearing in mind the family’s social engagements. The living room, library and kitchen branch off from this impressive hallway and staircase.
© Kate MartinThe drawing room
Located on the second floor, this beautiful space serves as the main entertaining space. It’s filled with "easy neutrals" and boasts a geometric carpet, curved sofas and eye-catching cocktail tables by French designer-artists Eric Schmitt and Guy de Rougemont.
© Kate MartinThe cozy library
Marie-Chantal kept the English chandelier, already in the room, and matched it with a Lucite coffee table by her younger sister, Alexandra von Furstenberg, and a classic striped rug. The wooden panels and the velvet François Catrous chairs add warmth to the whole space.
© Kate MartinThe heart of the house, the kitchen
Its the ideal space for the family to congregate. Artwork showing Pavlos and Marie-Chantal's children as infants takes pride of place on the shelves above the breakfast booth. The kitchen also features marble work-tops and a big island unit.
© Kate MartinA dining room with Asian influences
Again, the English chandelier dominates the room which includes a delicate oriental influence in the form of a beautiful tiger painting and a round lacquered table.
© Kate MartinA home for the family
The Crown Princess, her husband Pavlos of Greece and their five children, Olympia, Constatine, Achileas, Aristides and Odysseas lived in London for several years but they are surely in their element in the beautiful family property in New York.
