HENRI D’ORLÉANS, DUC D’AUMALE.
Musée Condé.
Léon Bonnat.
facing page 124
On March 9, 1889 he returned to Paris, and his first act was to present his thanks to the President, who seemed much touched by the words which he uttered upon this occasion. A hearty welcome greeted him from the people of Chantilly; and on his arrival at the station he was accompanied by a vast crowd to the door of the Château. A medal was cast in commemoration of this return, upon the obverse of which was a figure contemplating France from afar and the word “Spes”; upon the reverse a figure at the gates of the Château holding an olive-branch and the inscription “À S.A.R. Monseigneur le Duc d’Aumale; en souvenir du 11 mars 1889, les habitants de Chantilly reconnaissants.”
Subsequently an equestrian statue of the Duke was cast and placed near the entrance of the Château by the people of Chantilly, who regarded him and his ancestors as their benefactors. And it was here amongst his art treasures that he spent the last years of his eventful life.