Savoy Hotel
Front entrance
Location	London, United Kingdom
Coordinates	51°30′35″N 0°07′12″W / 51.50972°N 0.12°W / 51.50972; -0.12Coordinates: 51°30′35″N 0°07′12″W / 51.50972°N 0.12°W / 51.50972; -0.12
Opening date	1889
Website	Official website

The Savoy Hotel is a hotel located on the Strand, in the City of Westminster in central London. Built by impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte with profits from his Gilbert and Sullivan operas, the hotel opened on 6 August 1889. It was the first in the Savoy group of hotels and restaurants owned by Carte's family for over a century. It was also the first luxury hotel in Britain, introducing electric lights throughout the hotel, electric lifts, bathrooms inside most of the lavishly furnished rooms, constant hot and cold running water and many other innovations. Carte hired manager César Ritz and French chef Auguste Escoffier, who established an unprecedented standard of quality in hotel service, entertainment and elegant dining, attracting royalty and other wealthy guests and diners. Winston Churchill frequently took his cabinet to lunch at the hotel.^[1]

The hotel became Carte's most successful venture. Its bands, Savoy Orpheans and the Savoy Havana Band, became famous, and other entertainers (who were also often guests) included George Gershwin, Frank Sinatra, Lena Horne and Noël Coward. Famous guests have included Edward VII, Enrico Caruso, Charlie Chaplin, Harry Truman, Judy Garland, Babe Ruth, Laurence Olivier, Marilyn Monroe, John Wayne, Humphrey Bogart, Elizabeth Taylor, Barbra Streisand, The Beatles and numerous others.

The hotel is now managed by Fairmont Hotels and Resorts. It has been called "London's most famous hotel"^[2] and remains one of London's most prestigious and opulent hotels, with 268 rooms and panoramic views of the River Thames across Savoy Place and the Thames Embankment.^[3] The hotel closed in December 2007 for extensive renovations and reopened in October 2010.

History[link]

The site[link]

The House of Savoy was the ruling family of Savoy, descended from Humbert I, Count of Sabaudia (or "Maurienne"), who became count in 1032. The name Sabaudia evolved into "Savoy" (or "Savoie"). Count Peter (or Piers or Piero) of Savoy (d. 1268) was the maternal uncle of Eleanor of Provence, queen-consort of Henry III of England, and came with her to London.

The Savoy Palace

King Henry III made Peter Earl of Richmond and, in 1246, gave him the land between the Strand and the Thames where Peter built the Savoy Palace in 1263. On Peter's death, the Savoy was given to Edmund, 1st Earl of Lancaster, by his mother, Queen Eleanor. Edmund's great-granddaughter, Blanche, inherited the site. Her husband, John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, built a magnificent palace that was burned down by Wat Tyler's followers in the Peasants' Revolt of 1381.^[4] King Richard II was still a child, and his uncle John of Gaunt was the power behind the throne and so a main target of the rebels.

In about 1505, Henry VII planned a great hospital for "pouer, nedie people", leaving money and instructions for it in his will. The hospital was built in the palace ruins and licensed in 1512. Drawings show that it was a magnificent building, with a dormitory, dining hall and three chapels. Henry VII's hospital lasted for two centuries but suffered from poor management. The sixteenth-century historian Stow noted that the hospital was being misused by "loiterers, vagabonds and strumpets". In 1702, the hospital was dissolved, and the hospital buildings were used for other purposes. Part of the old palace was used for a military prison in the eighteenth century. In the nineteenth century, the old hospital buildings were demolished and new buildings erected.^[5]

Richard D'Oyly Carte

In 1864, a fire burned everything except the stone walls and the Savoy Chapel, and the property sat empty until impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte bought it in 1880 to build the Savoy Theatre specifically for the production of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas, of which he was the producer.^[6]

The hotel's early years[link]

Having seen the opulence of American hotels in his many visits to the U.S., Carte decided to build the first luxury hotel in Britain^[4] to attract foreign clientele as well as British tourists who had travelled to London for theatre and sightseeing. Opened in 1889, the hotel was designed by architect Thomas Edward Collcutt, who also designed the Wigmore Hall. Carte chose the name "Savoy" to memorialize the history of the property. His investors in the venture were, in addition to relatives, Carl Rosa, George Grossmith, François Cellier, George Edwardes, Augustus Harris and Fanny Ronalds. His friend, the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan, was a shareholder and sat on the Board of Directors.^[7]

The hotel was built on a plot of land, next to the Savoy Theatre, that Carte originally purchased to house an electrical generator for the theatre (built in 1881), which was the first public building in the world to be lit entirely by electricity. The construction of the hotel took five years and was financed by the profits from the Gilbert and Sullivan partnership, particularly from producing The Mikado.^[8] It was the first hotel lit by electric lights and the first with electric lifts.^[6] Other innovations included private, ensuite bathrooms in the majority of its 268 rooms, lavishly appointed in marble; constant hot and cold running water in each room, dinner dances, glazed brickwork designed to prevent London's smoke-laden air from spoiling the external walls, and its own Artesian well.^[9]

"Gondola" party, 1905

In 1890, Carte hired the hotel's first famous manager, César Ritz, who later became the founder of the Ritz Hotel. Ritz brought in his partners, chef Auguste Escoffier, and maître d'hôtel Louis Echenard.^[10] Ritz put together what he described as "a little army of hotel men for the conquest of London", and Escoffier recruited French cooks and reorganised the kitchens. The Savoy under Ritz and his partners was an immediate success, attracting a distinguished and moneyed clientele, headed by the Prince of Wales. Aristocratic women, hitherto unaccustomed to dining in public, were now "seen in full regalia in the Savoy dining and supper rooms".^[10] The hotel was such a financial success that Richard D'Oyly Carte bought other luxury hotels.^[11]

In 1897, Ritz and his partners were dismissed from the Savoy. Ritz and Echenard were implicated in the disappearance of over £3400 (£290,000 as of 2012),^[12] of wine and spirits, and Escoffier had been receiving gifts from the Savoy's suppliers.^[13] The Savoy group purchased Simpson's-in-the-Strand in 1898. The next year, Carte engaged M. Joseph, proprietor of the Marivaux Restaurant in Paris, as his next maître d'hôtel^[14] and in 1900 hired George Reeves-Smith as the next managing director of the Savoy hotel group. Reeves-Smith served in this capacity until 1941.^[15]

Savoy Hotel, Strand entrance, 1911

After Richard D'Oyly Carte died in 1901, his son Rupert D'Oyly Carte became chairman of the Savoy hotel group in 1903 and supervised the expansion of the hotel and the modernisation of the other hotels in the group's ownership, such as Claridge's.^[16] The expansion of the hotel in 1903–04 included new east and west wings and moving the main entrance to Savoy Court on the Strand.^[9] At that time, the hotel added Britain’s first serviced apartments, with access to all the hotel’s amenities. There were many famous residents, such as Sarah Bernhardt^[1] and Sir Thomas Dewar, some of whom lived there for decades.^[17] Spectacular parties were held at the hotel. For example, in 1905 American millionaire George A. Kessler hosted a "Gondola Party" where the central courtyard was flooded to a depth of four feet and scenery erected around the walls. Costumed staff and guests recreated Venice. The two dozen guests dined in an enormous gondola. After dinner, Enrico Caruso sang, and a baby elephant brought in a five foot birthday cake.^[18]

After the death of his stepmother Helen Carte in 1913, Rupert D'Oyly Carte became the controlling stockholder of the hotel group.^[6] In 1919, he sold the Grand Hotel, Rome, which his father had acquired in 1896.^[19] In the 1920s he ensured that the Savoy continued to attract a fashionable clientele by a continuous programme of modernisation and the introduction of dancing in the large restaurants. It also became the first hotel with air conditioning, steam-heating and soundproofed windows in the rooms, 24-hour room service and telephones in every bathroom. It also manufactured its own mattresses.^[9] One famous incident during Rupert's early years was the 1923 shooting, at the hotel, of a wealthy young Egyptian, Prince Fahmy Bey, by his French wife, Marguerite. The wife was acquitted of murder after it was revealed that her husband had treated her with extreme cruelty throughout the six-month marriage and had stated that he was going to kill her.^[20]

The hotel is famous for its entertainers. George Gershwin gave the British premiere of Rhapsody in Blue at the hotel in 1925, simultaneously broadcast by the BBC.^[21] The Savoy Orpheans and the Savoy Havana Band were described as "probably the best-known bands in Europe" and broadcast regularly from the hotel.^[22] Carte engaged Richard Collet to run the cabaret at the Savoy, which opened in April 1929.^[23] Lena Horne and others made their British debuts there.^[18] Frank Sinatra played the piano and sang there.^[24] More recently, Amy Winehouse and Michael Ball entertained guests.^[25]

Hotel's letterhead of 1939

Until the 1930s, the Savoy group had not thought it necessary to advertise, but Carte and Reeves-Smith changed their approach. "We are endeavouring by intensive propaganda work to get more customers; this work is going on in the U.S.A., in Canada, in the Argentine and in Europe."^[26] In 1937, George VI became the first reigning monarch to dine in any hotel when he attended a private dinner at the Savoy.^[18] In 1938 Hugh Wontner joined the Savoy hotel group as Reeves-Smith's assistant, and he became managing director in 1941.^[27]

During World War II, Wontner and his staff had to cope with bomb damage, food rationing, manpower shortage, and a serious decline in the number of foreign visitors. After the U.S. entered the war, business picked up as the Savoy Hotel became a favourite of American officers, diplomats, journalists and others.^[28] The hotel became a meeting place for war leaders: Winston Churchill often took his cabinet to lunch at the hotel, Lord Mountbatten, Charles de Gaulle, Jan Masaryk and General Wavell were among the regular Grill Room diners, and the hotel's air-raid shelters were "the smartest in London".^[27] Wontner co-operated fully with the government's wartime restrictions, helping to draw up an order imposing a five shilling limit on the price of a restaurant meal.^[28][29]

1946–2007[link]

After World War II, the Savoy Group experienced a strike of its employees in support of a waiter dismissed from the hotel. The matter was judged so serious that the government set up a court of inquiry.^[30] Nevertheless, the hotel also continued to attract celebrities. Princess Elizabeth was first seen in public with Prince Philip at a wedding reception at the Savoy in 1946.^[6] The same year, Wontner set up "The Savoy Management Scheme", a school to train hoteliers, that was maintained for half a century.^[9] The last major appointments of Rupert D'Oyly Carte's chairmanship were Wyllie Adolf Hofflin, general manager from 1941 to 1960, and August Laplanche, head chef from 1946 to 1965.^[31] When Carte died in 1948, his daughter Bridget did not wish to become chairman, accepting instead the vice-chairman position,^[32] and the Savoy board elected Wontner, the first person to combine the roles of chairman and managing director since the Savoy's founder, Richard D'Oyly Carte.^[27] Wontner remained managing director until 1979, chairman until 1984 and was president thereafter until 1992.^[28]

1989 planter in the embankment gardens between the hotel and the river honouring the Carte family and other persons historically important to the hotel

To mark Queen Elizabeth II's coronation on 2 June 1953, the hotel hosted the Savoy Coronation Ball, attended by 1,400 people, including Hollywood stars, royalty and other notables, who paid 12 guineas (£262 as of 2012),^[12] each.^[33] Sixteen Yeomen Warders from the Tower of London lined the entrance staircase. The interior of the Savoy was decked in hundreds of yards of dove-grey material and heraldic banners in scarlet and blue and yellow.^[31] The design was supervised by Bridget D'Oyly Carte, whose fellow organisers included Cecil Beaton and Ninette de Valois. The cabaret was under the direction of Laurence Olivier, Noël Coward and John Mills.^[34]

Under Wontner's leadership, the Savoy appointed its first British head chef, Silvino Trompetto, who was maître-chef from 1965 to 1980.^[18] Giles Shepard (1937–2006), succeeded Wontner as managing director from 1979 to 1994 and helped to defend the Savoy against Charles Forte's attempt to take control of the Board in the 1980s (Forte gained a majority of the shares, but was unable to take control due to the company's ownership structure). He also introduced competitive salaries for the staff, increased international marketing of the hotel and led the Savoy's centenary celebrations.^[35] The Savoy continued to be a popular meeting place. In 2009, The National reported, "Some hacks were referred to as 'Savoy correspondents' because their job was to park themselves in the lobby and see who came and went. Le tout London was there it seemed, from film stars to businessmen to politicians, all staying or being entertained at the grand old fun palace on the Strand."^[36]

Bridget D'Oyly Carte died childless in 1985, bringing an end to her family line. In 1998, American private equity house Blackstone Group purchased the Savoy hotel group. They sold it in 2004 to Quinlan Private, who sold the Savoy Hotel and Simpson's-in-the-Strand eight months later, for an estimated £250 million, to Al-Waleed bin Talal to be managed by Fairmont Hotels and Resorts of Canada.^[2] Quinlan's group retained the rest of the hotels under the name Maybourne Hotel Group.^[37]

Refurbishment – present[link]

In December 2007, the hotel was closed to undergo a refit to a design by Pierre Yves Rochon (interiors), ReardonSmith Architects (structural and exteriors) and Buro Happold, the cost of which was originally budgeted at £100 million.^[38] The hotel conducted a sale of 3,000 items of its famous furnishings and memorabilia.^[24][25] The projected reopening date was delayed more than a year to October 2010, as structural and systems problems delayed construction. The building's façade required extensive stabilisation.^[39] The cost of the renovations grew to £220 million.^[40] The new energy-efficient design includes modern lighting and a combined heat and power plant to reduce the hotel's reliance on the national electricity grid by approximately 50%, as well as programmes to reuse, recycle and turn some waste into biofuel for use at an English power plant.^[41] "All paper is recycled, smart meters monitor and regulate heat and light usage, hybrid vehicles are included in the hotel's fleet for guest transfers, and all staff go through 'green training' during their induction."^[42]

The new design features a Thames Foyer with a winter garden gazebo under a stained-glass cupola with natural light, which is the venue for late-night dining and the hotel's famous afternoon tea. The glass dome had been covered since World War II.^[43] There is new teashop and patisserie, called Savoy Tea, and a glass-enclosed fitness gallery with pool, gym and spa, located above the Savoy Theatre. The new Beaufort Bar has an Art Deco interior of jet-black and gold, serves champagne and cocktails and offers nightly cabaret.^[44] The River Restaurant, facing the Thames, is also decorated in the art deco style. The American Bar appears nearly unchanged^[4] but "[o]ut of darkness has come light."^[45] The rooms have been modernised but decorated in period styles that are harmonised with the adjacent hallways, and they retain the built-in wardrobes and bedroom cabinets. The room decor is Edwardian on the Thames river side and art deco on the Strand side.^[46][47] Butler service was also reintroduced to the hotel,^[48] and Gordon Ramsay manages the Savoy Grill with Chef Director Stuart Gillies and Head Chef Andy Cook, which reopened in November 2010.^[49][50] In a nod to the hotel's origins, there are six private dining rooms named after Gilbert and Sullivan operas.^[51] The hotel also contains a small museum next to the American Bar, open to the public, with a revolving exhibition of items from the hotel's archives.^[40][44]

The critic for The Daily Telegraph wrote: "The Savoy is still The Savoy, only better. ... [The rooms] are calm ... you are the personality, not the room. ... [The hotel is] a saviour of The Strand I suspect now. The lobby is bigger and grander, and JUST THE SAME."^[1] A review in The Guardian noted that reception "now is sheer sleight of hand. ... In under five minutes I have been expertly drawn into the world of Savoy. [Furniture and furnishings] conspire to enhance my stay".^[45] While the same reviewer found the spa disappointing, she gave highest marks to the hotel's personalised service, the Savoy Tea, afternoon tea in the Thames Foyer, and the Beaufort bar, concluding: "The Savoy is back where it belongs – right on top."^[45]

Famous guests and the hotel in films and novels[link]

The future king Edward VII was an early guest.

Numerous famous guests have stayed at the hotel. Claude Monet^[52][53] and James Whistler both stayed at the hotel and painted or drew views, from their rooms, of the River Thames.^[1][54] The Savoy featured prominently in guest Oscar Wilde's trial for gross indecency (he had conducted his affair with Lord Alfred Douglas in the hotel).^[25] Other celebrity guests in the hotel's early decades included the future King Edward VII, Sarah Bernhardt, Enrico Caruso, Lillie Langtry, H. G. Wells, George Bernard Shaw, Nellie Melba, Charlie Chaplin, Al Jolson, Errol Flynn, Fred Astaire, Marlene Dietrich, Lionel Barrymore, Harry Truman, Audrey Hepburn, Judy Garland, Josephine Baker, Cary Grant, Babe Ruth, Ivor Novello and Noël Coward.^[25][47][55] The hotel kept records of its guests’ preferences, so that it could provide them in advance. For Coward, the staff made history by taking the first photographs of a hotel guest's toilet articles so that they could lay them out in his bathroom exactly as he liked them. They made sure to provide a fireproof eiderdown to Barrymore, as he always smoked while reading in bed.^[18]

Bob Dylan stayed in the hotel in 1965 and filmed the video clip Subterranean Homesick Blues in an adjacent alley. Frank Sinatra, Laurence Olivier, Vivien Leigh (the last two met at the hotel),^[1] Marilyn Monroe, John Wayne, Louis Armstrong, Humphrey Bogart, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Richard Harris (who lived at the hotel for the last several years of his life; while being carried out on a stretcher before he died, he joked, "It was the food".),^[56] Maria Callas, Coco Chanel, Christian Dior, Sophia Loren, Julie Andrews, Lena Horne, Marlon Brando, Jane Fonda, Barbra Streisand, Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, Elton John, U2, Led Zeppelin, The Who, George Clooney, Whoopi Goldberg and Stephen Fry are just a few of the celebrities who stayed there in recent decades.^{[57][58][59][60]}

The hotel has often been used as a film location. For example, the romantic finale to the Notting Hill (1999) is set in the hotel's Lancaster Room, where Anna (Julia Roberts) and William (Hugh Grant) declare their mutual love. In 1921, the hotel was used in the film Kipps, based on the novel by H. G. Wells. The hotel also featured in The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981) and Entrapment (1999), among others. Arnold Bennett wrote the novel Imperial Palace in 1930, based on his research at the hotel and fictionalising the hotel's operations.^[18]

Restaurants and bars[link]

Restaurants[link]

The hotel has two well-known restaurants: the Grill Room (usually known as the Savoy Grill), on the north side of the building, with its entrance off the Strand, and the Savoy Restaurant (sometimes known as the River Restaurant), on the south side, overlooking the River Thames. The grand River Restaurant, facing the Thames, has long been famous for its inventive chefs, beginning in 1890 with celebrity chef Auguste Escoffier. Escoffier created many famous dishes at the Savoy. In 1893 he invented the pêche Melba in honour of the Australian singer Nellie Melba, and in 1897, Melba toast.^[25] Other Escoffier creations were bombe Néro (a flaming ice), fraises à la Sarah Bernhardt (strawberries with pineapple and Curaçao sorbet), baisers de Vierge (meringue with vanilla cream and crystallised white rose and violet petals) and suprêmes de volailles Jeannette (jellied chicken breasts with foie gras).^[61][62] Another signature dish is the Omelette Arnold Bennett.^[63]

New Year's Eve dinner at the Savoy, 1907

Under Ritz and Escoffier, evening dress had to be worn in the restaurant, and Ritz was innovative in hiring popular musicians to play background music during dinner and in printing daily menus.^[9] Even today, elegant dining at the Savoy includes formal afternoon tea with choral and other performances at Christmas time. The Savoy has a Sunday brunch, including free-flow champagne, and special events, such as New Year's Eve dinner. Kaspar, a 3-foot high art-deco black cat sculpted in 1926 by Basil Ionides, is used as an extra guest when thirteen dine, to stave off bad luck. He is given a full place setting and served each course.^[64][65] August Laplanche was head chef at the hotel from 1946 to 1965,^[31] Silvino Trompetto was maître-chef from 1965 to 1980^[18] and Anton Edelmann was maître chef des cuisines for 21 years, between 1982 and 2003.^[66] As part of the 2010 refurbishment, the restaurant has been completely redecorated in the art deco style, with a leopard pattern carpet.^[1] The head chef is Ryan Murphy.

Gordon Ramsay has managed the less formal Savoy Grill in recent years, employing his protégé Marcus Wareing, during which it earned its first Michelin star. The Grill was originally "where people go to eat a modest luncheon or to dine on the way to the theatre without spending too much time or too much money."^[67] It later became "the home of power lunching in London".^[68] Since November 2010, the chef patron has been Stuart Gillies, with head chef Andy Cook.^[49][50]

The Thames Foyer serves breakfast, morning coffee, light lunch and supper, as well as afternoon tea, accompanied by the hotel’s resident pianist. Also part of the hotel buildings is Simpson's-in-the-Strand, featuring classic British style cuisine. Its specialties are aged Scottish beef on the bone, potted shrimps, roast saddle of lamb and steak and kidney pie.^[69]

Bars[link]

The American Bar at the Savoy Hotel was one of the early establishments to introduce American-style cocktails to Europe.^[65] The term American Bar was used in London to designate the sale of American cocktails from 1878.^[70] The Head Barmen, in chronological order, have been as follows:

• Frank Wells, 1893 to 1902.^[70]
• Ada "Coley" Coleman, 1903 to 1924. She concocted the Hanky-Panky cocktail for Sir Charles Hawtrey.^[70]
• Harry Craddock, 1925 to 1939. The American barman fled 1920s Prohibition in the U.S. to head the Savoy's bars; author of The Savoy Cocktail Book and inventor of such cocktails as the "White Lady".^[70][65]
• Eddie Clark, 1939 to 1942. During World War II, he created a cocktail for each branch of the armed services: "Eight Bells" for the Navy, "New Contemptible" for the Army, and "Wings" for the R.A.F.^[70]
• Reginald "Johnnie" Johnson, 1942 to 1954. He invented "Wedding Bells" for the wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip.^[70]
• Joe Gilmore, 1954 to 1975. Among his many creations was the "Moonwalk" to honour Neil Armstrong's achievement.^[18] His hangover cure was two aspirins and a "Corpse Reviver".^[70]
• Harry "Vic" Viccars, 1975 to 1981. His cocktails included "Speedbird", one of three drinks created for the first commercial flight of the Concorde in 1976.^[70]
• Victor Gower, 1981 to 1985.^[70]
• Peter Dorelli, 1985 to 2003. His 1889’er celebrated the hotel's centenary in 1989, and together with Salim Khoury, he created the "Millenium" to celebrate the end of the 20th century.^[70]
• Salim Khoury, 2003 to 2010. In 1992, he won the UK Barman of the Year competition by inventing the "Blushing Monarch", inspired by Princess Diana.^[70]
• Erik Lorincz, 2010 to present (see also El Malecon cocktail)^[65][70]

The American Bar is decorated in a warm art deco design with cream and ochre walls and electric blue and gold chairs. The walls feature the photos of famous guests. A pianist in the bar plays jazz every day from a baby grand piano in the centre of the room with a live pianist seven days a week, playing classic American Jazz.^[4][65]

A new bar created in the 2010 renovation is the Beaufort Bar, specializing in champagne as well as cocktails. Decorated in an Art Deco design of jet-black and gold intended to evoke old-fashioned glamour, it offers nightly cabaret.^[44]

The Savoy Cocktail Book[link]

In 1930, the Savoy Hotel first published its cocktail book, The Savoy Cocktail Book, with 750 recipes compiled by Harry Craddock of the American Bar and art deco 'decorations' by Gilbert Rumbold. The book has remained in print since then and was subsequently republished in 1952, 1965, 1985, 1996 and expanded in 1999 with some new text and a number of new cocktails added by Peter Dorelli.^[71][72]

Savoy Court and Savoy Pier[link]

Savoy Court is the only street in the United Kingdom where vehicles are required to drive on the right.^[9] This is said to date from the days of the hackney carriage when a cab driver would reach his arm out of the driver's door window to open the passenger's door (which opened backwards and had the handle at the front), without having to get out of the cab himself. Additionally, the hotel entrance's small roundabout meant that vehicles needed a turning circle of 25 ft (8 m) in order to navigate it. This is still the legally required turning circle for all London cabs.^[73]

Savoy Pier is located near the river entrance to the hotel, but is not affiliated with the hotel.

See also[link]

• Hotels in London

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Ainger, Michael (2002). Gilbert and Sullivan – A Dual Biography. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-514769-3. 
• Augustin, Andreas and Andrew Williamson (2002). Photography by Rupert Tenison. The Savoy, London, The Most Famous Hotels in the World series. ISBN 3-902118-04-0
• Beebe, Lucius. The Savoy of London. 1979
• Calman, Mel (1964). Savoy Sketchbook, Aztec Design. ISBN 0-9524782-0-X
• Chapple, Kevin and Jane Thorne (eds) (1993). Reflected Light: The Story of the Savoy Theatre
• Contarini, Paulo. The Savoy Was My Oyster
• Dorelli, Peter; Craddock, Harry (1999). The Savoy Cocktail Book. ISBN 1-86205-296-4
• Jackson, Stanley (1964) The Savoy: the Romance of a Great Hotel. New York: LCCN 63-8604
• Jackson, Stanley (1989). The Savoy: A Century of Taste Frederick Muller
• MacKenzie, Compton (1953). The Savoy of London. London: George Harrap & Co.
• Nicol, Jean (1952) Meet me at the Savoy. London: Museum Press
• "Famous Hotels in the World - London: The Savoy". 4Hoteliers. 30 October 2006. http://www.4hoteliers.com/4hots_fshw.php?mwi=1690. Retrieved 20 June 2009. 

External links[link]

• The old/current Savoy Hotel website
• The new Savoy Hotel website describing the renovated hotel
• Daily Mail article with pre-renovation photos
• Daily Mail article with post-renovation photos
• Purr 'n' Fur: Kaspar, of the Savoy Hotel, London
• 2010 photo of the hotel
• Pathe footage of Film Star's cocktail party at the Savoy (1947)

Savoy Savoie (French) Savouè (Franco-Provençal) Savoia (Italian) Sapaudia (Latin)
Flag
Anthem: Le Chant des Allobroges The Song of the Savoyards/Allobroges
Capital (and largest city)		Chambéry
Official language(s)		French
Ethnic groups		French
Demonym		Savoisian (historic; today uncommon), Savoyard (in widespread use, pejorative[1])
Legislature		Sovereign Senate of Savoy(dissolved in 1860)
Annexed		Annexed to France on June 14, 1860
-	Savoy raised to a duchy by Emperor Sigismund	February 19, 1416
Area
-	Total	10,416 km2  4,022 sq mi
Population
-	2008 estimate	1,125,119
Time zone		CET (UTC+1)
-	Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Drives on the		right
Calling code		33

Savoy (/ˈsævɔɪ/; Arpitan: Savouè, IPA: [saˈvwɛ]; French: Savoie, IPA: [savwa]; Italian: Savoia) is a region of France. It comprises roughly the territory of the Western Alps situated between Lake Geneva in the north and Dauphiné in the south.

The historical land of Savoy emerged as the feudal territory of the house of Savoy during the 11th to 14th centuries. The historical territory is shared between the modern republics of France and Italy.

Installed by Rudolph III, King of Burgundy, officially in 1003, the House of Savoy became the longest surviving royal house in Europe.^{[citation needed]} It ruled the County of Savoy to 1416 and then the Duchy of Savoy from 1416 to 1714.

The territory of Savoy was annexed to France in 1792 under the French First Republic, before being returned to the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia in 1815. Savoy was finally annexed to France, under the Second French Empire in 1860, as part of a political agreement brokered between the French emperor Napoleon III and King Victor Emmanuel II of the Kingdom of Sardinia that began the process of unification of Italy. Victor Emmanuel's dynasty, the House of Savoy, retained its Italian lands of Piedmont and Liguria and became the ruling dynasty of Italy.

Geography[link]

The County and Duchy of Savoy incorporated Turin and other territories in Piedmont, a region in northwestern Italy that borders Savoy, which were also possessions of the House of Savoy. The capital of the Duchy remained at the traditional Savoyard capital of Chambéry until 1563, when it was moved to Turin.

In modern France, Savoy is part of the Rhône-Alpes region. Following its annexation to France in 1860, the territory of Savoy was divided administratively into two separate departments, Savoie and Haute-Savoie.

Alpine landscape of Les Saisies, as seen from Mont Bisanne.

The traditional capital remains Chambéry (Ciamberì), on the rivers Leysse and Albane, hosting the castle of the House of Savoy and the Savoyard senate. The state included six districts:

• Savoie Propre, sometimes known as Ducal Savoy (capital Chambéry)
• Chablais (capital Thonon-les-Bains)
• Faucigny (capital Bonneville)
• Tarentaise (capital Moûtiers)
• Maurienne (capital Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne)
• Genevois (capital Annecy).

History[link]

Early history[link]

The region occupied by the Celtic Allobroges people^[2] became part of the Roman Empire. The name Savoy stems from the Late Latin Sapaudia, referring to a fir forest.^[3] It is first recorded in Ammianus Marcellinus (354), to describe the southern part of Maxima Sequanorum^[4] According to the Gallic Chronicle of 452, it was separated from the rest of Burgundian territories in 443, after the Burgundian defeat by Flavius Aetius.^[5]

Early and High Middle Ages[link]

By the 8th century, the territory that would later become known as Savoy was part of the Kingdom of the Franks, and at the division of Francia at the Treaty of Verdun in 843, it became part of the short-lived kingdom of Middle Francia. After only 12 years, at the death of Lothair I in 855, Middle Francia was divided into Lotharingia north of the Alps, Italy south of the Alps, and the parts of Burgundy in the Western Alps, inherited by Charles son of Lothair. This latter territory comprised what would become known as Savoy and Provence.

From the 10th to 14th century, parts of what would ultimately become Savoy remained within the Kingdom of Arles. Beginning in the 11th century, the gradual rise to power of the house of Savoy is reflected in the increasing territory of their County of Savoy between 1003 and 1416.

The County of Savoy was detached de jure from the Kingdom of Arles by Charles IV in 1361. It acquired the County of Nice in 1388, and in 1401 added the County of Genevois, the area of Geneva except for the city proper, which was ruled by its prince-bishop, nominally under the duke's rule: the bishops of Geneva, by unspoken agreement, came from the house of Savoy; this agreement came to an end in 1533.^[6]

Duchy of Savoy[link]

Map of Savoy in the 16th century, white lines are modern borders

On February 19, 1416, Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor, made the County of Savoy an independent duchy, with Amédée VIII as the first duke. Straddling the Alps, Savoy lay within two competing spheres of influence, a French sphere and a North Italian one. At the time of the Renaissance, Savoy showed only modest development.^[7] Its towns were few and small.^[8] Savoy derived its subsistence from agriculture.^[9] The geographic location of Savoy was also of military importance.^[10] During the interminable wars between France and Spain over the control of northern Italy, Savoy was important to France because it provided access to Italy.^[11] Savoy was important to Spain because it served as a buffer between France and the Spanish held lands in Italy.^[12] In 1563 Emmanuel Philibert moved the capital from Chambéry to Turin, which was less vulnerable to French interference.^[13]

Vaud was annexed by Bern in 1536, and Savoy officially ceded Vaud to Bern in the treaty of Lausanne of 30 October 1564.

In 1714, as a consequence of the War of the Spanish Succession, Savoy was technically subsumed into the Kingdom of Sicily, then (after that island was traded to Austria for Sardinia) the Kingdom of Sardinia from 1720. While the heads of the House of Savoy were known as the Kings of Sardinia, Turin remained their capital.

French Revolutionary Wars[link]

Savoy was occupied by French revolutionary forces between 1792 and 1815. The region was first added to the département of Mont-Blanc, then in 1798 was divided between the départements of Mont-Blanc and Léman (French name of Lake Geneva.) In 1801, Savoy officially left the Holy Roman Empire.^[14] On September 13, 1793 the combined forces of Savoy, Piedmont and Aosta Valley fought against and lost to the occupying French forces at the Battle of Méribel (Sallanches). Two-thirds of Savoy was restored to the Kingdom of Sardinia in the First Restoration of 1814 following Napoleon's abdication; approximately one-third of Savoy, including the two most important cities of Chambéry and Annecy, remained in France. Following Napoleon's brief return to power during the Hundred Days and subsequent defeat at Waterloo, the remaining one-third of Savoy was restored to the Kingdom of Sardinia at the Congress of Vienna to strengthen Sardinia as a buffer state on France's southeastern border.

Modern history[link]

Robert Léopold Leprince - View of Savoy (Walters Art Museum)

From 1815 until 1860 Savoy was part of the Italian Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia.

Annexation to France[link]

The French Second Republic first attempted to annex Savoy in 1848. Corps were dispatched from Lyon and invaded the capital of Savoy [Chambéry] and proclaimed the annexation to France. On learning about the invasion countrymen rushed to Chambéry. The corps were chased away by the local population and many were massacred.^[15]

In order to secure an alliance against Austria in the wars of unification of Italy, the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Sardinia Camillo Cavour met in secret with the French emperor Napoleon III on July 21, 1858 in Plombières (Vosges). During the discussion, Cavour promised that Sardinia would cede the County of Nice and Duchy of Savoy to France in exchange for military support in a planned war against Austria. Though this was a secret arrangement, it quickly became widely known.^[16]

The treaty annexing Nice and Savoy to France was signed in Turin on March 24, 1860 (Treaty of Turin).^[17] In the northern provinces of the Chablais and Faucigny, there was some sympathy for annexation to neighboring Switzerland, with which the northern provinces had longstanding economic ties. To help reduce the attractiveness of Switzerland, the French government conceded a free-trade Zone that maintained the longstanding duty-free relationship of northern Savoyard communes to Geneva. The treaty was followed on April 22–23 by a plebiscite employing universal male suffrage, in which voters were offered the option of voting "yes" to approve the treaty and join France or rejecting the treaty with a no vote. The disallowed options of either joining Switzerland, remaining with Italy, or regaining its independence, were the source of some opposition. With a 99.8% vote in favour of joining France, there were allegations of vote-rigging, notably by the British government, which opposed continental expansion by its traditional French enemy.

The correspondent of The Times in Savoy who was in Bonneville on April 22 called the vote "the lowest and most immoral farces which was ever played in the history of nations".^[18] He finished his letter with those words:

I leave you to draw your own conclusions from this trip, which will show clearly what the vote was in this part of Savoy. The vote was the bitterest irony ever made on popular suffrage. The ballot-box in the hands of those very authorities who issued the proclamations; no control possible; even travellers suspected and dogged lest they should pry into the matter; all opposition put down by intimidation, and all liberty of action completely taken away. One can really scarcely reproach the Opposition with having given up the game; there was too great force used against them. As for the result of the vote, therefore, no one need trouble himself about it; it will be just as brilliant as that in Nice. The only danger is lest the Savoy authorities in their zeal should fare as some of the French did in the vote of 1852, finding to their surprise rather more votes than voters inscribed on the list.

In his letter to the ambassador of Vienna Lord A. Loftus, the then Foreign Secretary Lord John Russell said "Voting in Savoy and Nice a farce ... we are neither entertained or edified".^[19]

The annexation was promulgated on June 14, 1860. On August 23, 1860 and March 7, 1861, two agreements were signed between the French Empire and the Kingdom of Sardinia to settle the remaining issues concerning the annexation.^{[20] [21]}

The Château de Chambéry, seat of government, was given a grand new façade following annexation

20th century[link]

In 1919, France officially (but contrary to the annexation treaty) ended the military neutrality of the parts of the country of Savoy that had originally been agreed to at the Congress of Vienna, and also eliminated the free trade zone - both treaty articles having been broken unofficially in World War I. France was condemned in 1932 by the international court for noncompliance with the measures of the treaty of Turin regarding the provinces of Savoy and Nice.^[22]

In 1960, the term annexation having acquired negative connotations in France, particularly after Germany's 1871 annexation of Alsace-Lorraine, the annexation was renamed Rattachement de la Savoie à la France (Incorporation of Savoy to France).^[23] It was the latter term which was used by the French authorities during the festivities celebrating the 100th anniversary of the annexation.^[24] Daniel Rops of the French Academy justified the new title with these words:

Savoy has begun to solemnize the feasts in 1960, commemorating the centenary of its incorporation (rattachement) to France. It is on purpose that the word incorporation (rattachement) is highlighted here: the Savoyards attach great value to it, and it is the only one they have resolved to use in the official terminology of the Centenary. In that, they are infinitely right. Yesterday another term that was used: annexation. Looking at it more closely it was wrong! Can we say annexation when we talk about a decision which was approved by 130,889 voters over 135,449? [...]. Savoy was not annexed [...] but actually incorporated freely and by the will of its inhabitants.

A former French deputy, P. Taponnier, spoke of the annexation:

In late March 1860, the betrothal ceremony of Savoy to France took place in Tuileries Palace (...), a ceremony which was a pact of love and fidelity [...] it is with free consent that she [Savoy] gave itself to France by a solemn plebiscite which our leaders can ignore neither the terms nor the commitments. [...] May the bells of our cities [...] in Savoy vibrate in unison to glorify, in this magnificent Centenary, the indefectible commitment of Savoy to France. The Savoyards did not feel Italian. Besides, they spoke French. This explains why in 1858-1859 when rumours ran of the Plombières secret agreement, where Napoleon III and Cavour decided of the fate of Savoy, the Savoyards themselves took the initiative to ask for the incorporatoin (rattachement). [...] Incorporation, not annexation [...] The incorporation was an act of free will, in the logical order of geography and history [...].

Modern regionalist politics[link]

Since the mid twentieth-century, regionalist movements have appeared in Savoy much as in other historic provinces of France. The Mouvement Région Savoie (Savoy Regional Movement) was founded in December 1971 as a 'movement' (rather than a traditional political party) in favour of regional autonomy. Unlike other historic provinces, including Alsace and Brittany, Savoy does not currently have its own region within France and is part of the Rhône-Alpes region. In the 1996 local elections, the Savoy Regional Movement received 19,434 votes; it received 4,849 in the 1998 regional elections. A new non-party organisation, La Région Savoie, j’y crois ! (I believe in the Savoy Region!), was founded in 1998. The organisation campaigns for the replacement of the Savoie and Haute-Savoie departments with a regional government, separate from the Rhône-Alpes region, with greater devolved powers.

A very marginal separatist movement has also appeared in Savoy within the past twenty years, most prominently represented by the Ligue Savoisienne, founded in 1994. In the March 1998 regional elections, 1 seat (out of 23) was won by Patrice Abeille, leader of the Ligue, which won a total of 17,865 votes across the two departments. In 2004, Waiting for Freedom in Savoy^[25] was founded to promote the peaceful separatist cause to young people.

According to surveys conducted in 2000, between 41% and 55% of the population were in favour of the proposal for a separate Savoy region, while 19% to 23% were in favour of separation from France. Towards the end of 2005, Hervé Gaymard called for Savoie to be given special status, similar to a French region, under his proposed 'Conseil des Pays de Savoie'.^[26]

Modern historiographical debates[link]

In recent years, sparked by the admittedly tiny Savoyard separatist movement, much attention has been focused on questioning the validity of the 1860 annexation. The Ligue Savoisienne, for example, rejects the Treaty of Turin and subsequent plebiscite as null and void, arguing that the plebiscite did not meet the standards of a free and fair vote. Today, historians generally acknowledge that the plebiscite of 1860 did feature irregularities, but they also affirm that the annexation instrument was the Treaty of Turin and not the plebiscite, whose main purpose was to demonstrate favorable public opinion in Savoy for the annexation after the signature of the treaty.^[27] In an interview for the newspaper Le Dauphiné Libéré, Sylvain Milbach, a historian at the University of Savoy, qualifies the vote as Napoleonic, but also argues that a completely free and fair vote would not have dramatically changed the outcome, as the majority of Savoyards wished to become French.^[28] This is today the official stance of the General Council of Savoie.

Notes[link]

See also[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Savoy

• House of Savoy
• Italian Savoyards
• List of active autonomist and secessionist movements

External links[link]

• The History of the Annexation of Savoy and Nice to France according to the United Kingdom, Switzerland and the others...
• Universal Suffrage under Napoleon III by Adams, Charles Kendall
• Savoy Region Movement (in French)
• Ligue Savoisienne (in English)
• La Région Savoie, j’y crois ! (in French)
• Francia Media}: a territorial and genealogical disambiguation of Lorraine and Burgundy, with a section on Savoy

v t e States of Piedmont-Sardinia and the House of Savoy Kingdom of Sardinia  · Principality of Piedmont  · Duchy of Savoy Duchy of Aosta  · Duchy of Montferrat  · Duchy of Genoa  · County of Nice

Christian Cooper is a comic book writer based in New York City.