It is just over a year since the Comte Edouard Decazes, Eddy to his very wide circle of friends, left us. Had he lived another few months he would have reached his 100th birthday, and, every bit as important, the 70th anniversary of his marriage.

He and his lovely wife, Caroline, were for many years very well known in our world of Gstaad and the Saanenland. Indeed Eddy had come to Gstaad as a teenager in the 1930s, originally staying at the Olden with his sister at weekends from Lausanne, learning to ski before any mechanical lifts. His love of the mountains would serve him well in the Chasseurs Alpins during the war.

Some twenty years later, in 1950, he brought his young wife, Caroline, back to the Gstaad he already knew so well. Over the next 60 to 70 years Edouard and Caroline Decazes were prominent and much liked and respected in the Gstaad community. They had various chalets, including a log cabin in Grund designed by Caroline and lastly, Chalet Topaz on Bissen for some 20 years, where they and their children spent much time.

A very gregarious, outgoing and friendly couple, who had friends in every walk of life, they were wonderful hosts with friends from both sides of the Atlantic as could be expected with their own trans-Atlantic backgrounds.

Edouard Decazes was born in May 1921, the younger son of the 4th Duke Decazes et de Glücksbierg. The first Duke was the de facto Prime Minister of Louis XVIII after the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy following the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo.

Fast forward to the 20th century and to Paris, where in 1921 the first Duke’s great great grandson, Edouard Decazes de Glücksbierg was born. He was named after his god-father, Eddy, the Earl of Derby, the British Ambassador in Paris, who was a great friend of Edouard’s parents. Edouard’s god-father bore one of the revered names of English racing, a sport of which Eddy was to become passionately fond.

Edouard married Caroline Triplett Taliaferro Scott in 1950, a Richmond beauty from old Virginia stock. They made their life in Europe – mainly in Paris and later at Chantilly, and in Switzerland between Lausanne and of course Gstaad. Together they had five children. All the children went to the Marie-José, four out of five of them going on from there to Le Rosey. Caroline was an excellent foil to her husband and they shared the same interests and enthusiasms.

Edouard Decaze’s interests were wide. But the world of horses and racing in particular, was one he loved. In this respect he carried on in the tradition of his father as both an owner and breeder. For many years, Edouard also served as a Commissaire (the equivalent in England and the USA of ‘Steward’) of the governing body of French racing, the Société d’Encouragement, now France-Galop. At his family’s renowned Haras du Mesnil, he bred many a fine horse.

The Decazes racing colours, a red band on a white ground topped with a black velvet cap, brought his horses victories as far afield as Melbourne and Hong Kong. Their lovely house at Chantilly, the race course of which is one of the glories of French racing, had spectacular views across the course itself. When they sold it in 2006, Christies conducted a still talked-of sale, where things horsey figured in a big way.

One of the areas maybe less wellknown of Edouard Decazes’ life was his service for over 50 years as a Chevalier de Malte. The Order of Malta was and is a perfect institution from which to do charitable work. Though it is in part one of the oldest military orders of Christendom, it has always been just as much, and indeed is now much more dedicated to its work across the world for the sick, needy and those forgotten by their fellows as in this case with the sad world of leprosy. Eddy eventually became the first ambassador of the Order of Malta to Sénégal and to Cameroon. He also represented the Order of Malta at several UN agencies in Geneva. Eddy did a huge amount here, and he did most of this selfless work discreetly, which remained little-known to his friends.

In Gstaad, Edouard Decazes was for many years a pillar of the Eagle Club. Indeed, he served for 20 years as President of the Club, from 1979 to 1999, the longest serving President that the Club has ever had. His style was once again low key and unflustered, a style which suited the Club well.

Edouard Decazes was a great gentleman.

His wife, Caroline, three daughters, seven grandchildren and one great granddaughter survive him. Caroline lives between Saanen and Lausanne.

J C