The Right Place

Prologue

Daily Mail Online

Queen of The Party Palace dies aged 58

By Luke Ewing

Glamorous supermodel-turned-hotelier Philippa Hemingway has died aged 58, her lawyer has announced. Hemingway, who was linked to a string of famous playboys in the Eighties and Nineties, passed away ‘peacefully’ at home in Provence on Tuesday night. The cause of death has not been announced.

In 2000, Ms Hemingway, or Phil, as she was known to her friends, opened Proven?al hotel Le Figuier just outside the village of Narnesse. It soon became known as the ‘party palace’ for its wild, late-night shenanigans, celebrity guests and all-day drinking sessions around its famous ‘natural’ pool. Those checking in were asked to respect the privacy of other guests, and photos taken inside the grounds and the hotel were strictly forbidden.

As a result, for years Le Figuier was not so much a hotel as one very long house party where every vice was allowed to flower, safe from the prying eye of the paparazzi lens.

It’s perhaps easier to say who didn’t check in at the ‘the Fig’ than who did. Madonna, Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck, the Beckhams, Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni, and even several young British royals, were among the big names who stayed at the hotel in its heyday. In 2002, the Earl and Countess of Bruton held their wedding ceremony there, followed by a three-day party. The following year, the American band Quicksand recorded their number one single, ‘Don’t Leave Me’, in the grounds.

Its owner was also famously private, although Ms Hemingway was linked to stars including Mick Jagger and Pete Sampras. Little else about her private life is known, however, and she never married. She is said to have been estranged from her family.

Born in London, Ms Hemingway was spotted by a talent scout in Chelsea aged 17 and rapidly became one of the Eighties’ most highly-paid models, parading the catwalk for the likes of Chanel, Jean Paul Gaultier and Vivienne Westwood. Just a few years later, she turned her back on the fashion world and travelled the world, learning to cook.

In 1999, when she bought a ruined chateau in the South of France, few suspected how successful this surprise business move would prove to be. But within a few years, thanks to the hotel’s illustrious reputation, there was a strict waiting list, which nobody was allowed to jump. Rumour has it that when Angelina Jolie’s publicist tried to book her client in for a stay, Ms Hemingway told her to ‘get in the queue like everyone else’.

In recent years, however, the hotel is said to have gone into decline, abandoned by its celebrity fans. The latest reviews on Tripadvisor describe the place as ‘tired’, ‘dated’ and ‘a French Fawlty Towers’.

When a Daily Mail reporter visited the hotel yesterday, a member of staff said she couldn’t comment on what would happen to the infamous site.