The $68,500 Secret: Unpacking The Scandalous History Of King Edward VII's 'Love Chair'

The legend of the 'Love Chair' is one of the most enduring and salacious tales in British royal history, often mistakenly attributed to the wrong King Edward. As of late 2025, the fascination with this controversial piece of furniture, known in French as the Siège d'Amour (Seat of Love), remains intensely high, driven by its recent appearance in high-profile antique exhibitions and its staggering alleged value, which was recently listed at $68,500 USD. This article delves into the true, unvarnished history of the chair, the corpulent monarch who commissioned it, and the Parisian brothel that served as its scandalous home.

The chair's true owner was not the abdicating King Edward VIII, but his grandfather, King Edward VII (born Albert Edward), who reigned from 1901 to 1910. Known privately as 'Bertie' and publicly as "Dirty Bertie" for his legendary appetite for pleasure, the future king's hedonistic lifestyle during the Victorian era was a constant source of anxiety for his mother, Queen Victoria. The Siège d'Amour stands as the ultimate symbol of his extravagant and highly unconventional private life.

The Life and Scandalous Profile of King Edward VII

King Edward VII was one of the most colourful and controversial figures to ever sit on the British throne. His life as Prince of Wales was marked by a long, frustrating wait for the crown and a series of high-profile romantic liaisons that shocked the conservative Victorian society of the time. The contrast between his public duty and private indulgence makes him a fascinating historical entity.

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• Full Name: Albert Edward
• Born: November 9, 1841, at Buckingham Palace, London
• Died: May 6, 1910, at Buckingham Palace, London
• Reign: January 22, 1901 – May 6, 1910
• Parents: Queen Victoria and Prince Albert
• Wife: Princess Alexandra of Denmark (Queen Alexandra)
• Children: Six, including the future King George V
• Nickname: 'Bertie' (privately), 'Dirty Bertie' (colloquially)
• Key Mistresses: Lillie Langtry, Daisy Greville (Countess of Warwick), and Alice Keppel (great-grandmother of Camilla, Queen Consort)
• Defining Scandal: His commissioning and frequent use of the *Siège d'Amour* in Paris.

Edward’s reputation as a dedicated pleasure-seeker began early. He was a regular fixture in the high society of Paris, where the strictures of the British court could be ignored. It was in this environment that he became a patron of the most exclusive and notorious establishment in the city: the brothel of Le Chabanais.

The Anatomy of the Siège d'Amour: How the Love Chair Worked

The *Siège d'Amour* was not merely a decorative piece of furniture; it was a highly specific, custom-engineered device designed to solve a particular problem for the corpulent Prince of Wales. Commissioned in 1890, the chair's design was a marvel of discreet, functional eroticism.

The Commission and the Cabinetmaker

The infamous chair was custom-made by the renowned Parisian cabinetmaker Louis Soubrier. Soubrier was known for his discretion and skill, making him the perfect craftsman for such a scandalous royal commission. The piece was made specifically for Edward's private suite at Le Chabanais, a luxurious brothel that catered to the elite of European society, where Edward was known as "His Royal Highness, The Prince of Wales."

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The brothel’s owners went to extraordinary lengths for their royal patron. Edward had his own reserved suite, complete with a copper bathtub shaped like a swan, a private entrance, and, of course, the now-legendary love chair.

The Triple-Seater Design

The Siège d'Amour was essentially a triple-seater sofa—a brocade 'bunk bed' of stacking seats—ingeniously designed to facilitate simultaneous intimacy between the Prince and two courtesans. The King, who was known to be quite heavy in his later years, could not move with ease, making the chair a necessity for his particular desires.

The chair featured three distinct seating positions:

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• The King’s Position: A central, elevated, and cushioned seat that allowed Edward to remain relatively stationary.
• The First Courtesan's Position: A lower, forward-facing seat where one woman would be positioned.
• The Second Courtesan's Position: A lower, rear-facing seat where the second woman would be positioned.

The design allowed Edward to engage with two partners simultaneously with minimal physical exertion, a crucial detail given his size and age. Some accounts even mention stirrups or footrests to hold the legs of the partners in place, adding to the chair's mechanical and functional design.

The Modern Legacy and Current Status of the Siège d'Amour

The scandalous history of the *Siège d'Amour* ensures its enduring place in the world of antiques and royal lore. While the original chair's fate is subject to various rumours—some say it was destroyed, others that it remains in a private European collection—its replicas and related pieces have become major attractions, providing the latest, most tangible connection to this historical curiosity.

The Le Chabanais Connection

Le Chabanais, the chair’s original home, was one of Paris's most famous and luxurious brothels until it was shut down in 1946. The brothel's furniture, including its most infamous pieces, were often sold or dispersed. The physical evidence of the *Siège d'Amour* is a key part of the brothel’s own legendary status, cementing its place in the history of Parisian vice and Edwardian decadence.

The $68,500 Price Tag and Exhibition

In a major recent development, a highly sought-after antique version of the *Siège d'Amour* was listed for sale with the prestigious M.S. Rau Antiques in New Orleans. The piece was valued at a staggering $68,500 USD, highlighting the immense historical and scandalous value attached to the chair's design and story. The listing served as a major public reintroduction of the chair's legend to a modern audience.

The chair was a centrepiece in M.S. Rau's exhibition titled "Vice & Virtue: An Exhibition of Sex, Saints and Sin," which opened in April of a recent year. This exhibition brought the chair out of the shadows and placed it directly into a conversation about the morality and hidden lives of historical figures, including royalty like King Edward VII and even Catherine the Great, whose furniture was also featured.

The public display of the *Siège d'Amour* confirms that the legend of "Dirty Bertie" is far from forgotten. It remains a potent symbol of an era when the British monarch, despite being the head of a global empire, lived a secret life of extreme luxury and scandalous pleasure in the red-lit rooms of Paris, all facilitated by a piece of furniture designed for the most intimate of royal requirements.

The fascination isn't just with the sex, but with the sheer audacity of a future king commissioning such an item from a renowned cabinetmaker like Louis Soubrier and keeping it in a notorious brothel. It is a powerful reminder that behind the velvet curtains of royal formality, there often lies a history far more intriguing, human, and scandalous than the official records ever reveal.