BAD BLOOD
‘SHE’S CREATED A VACUUM AROUND HIM. SHE GOT RID OF ALL HIS FRIENDS’
THE view from Jean-Paul Guerlain’s kitchen is idyllic. Through a big wide window you can watch the horses grazing in the winter sun in the meadow opposite.
Horses have been a lifelong love for the 85-year-old who’s the last family head of Guerlain, a French perfume, cosmetics and skincare house which, founded in 1828, is among the oldest in the world and is still thriving as part of the LVMH luxury empire.
Jean-Paul, the creative “nose” who developed iconic fragrances Chamade, Jardins de Bagatelle, Samsara and Habit Rouge, was also an international dressage competitor in the ’70s and La Vallée, his grand but fading estate at Les Mesnuls, on the edge of the Rambouillet forest, is full of equine memories.
Prominent among the paintings and photographs is the image of an elegant horsewoman, Christina Kragh Michel-sen, Jean-Paul’s companion of more than 15 years.
However, the peaceful scene at La Vallée is misleading – the Danish-born Christina is at the heart of a vicious feud that pits her against Stéphane, the perfumer’s only son.
I’m at the vast 19th-century ensemble of buildings in the half-wooded Anglo-Norman style, to hear her story. Christine, clad in stable gear – a quilted top, suede boots and leather trousers – greets me in brisk English and shows me around the rundown grounds after we watch Jean-Paul being driven away in a car to visit his doctor.
After a dozen
