Candles, Carriages... and a Very Gilded Christmas in Paris

One Day, Three Addresses, and an American Heiress’s Paris Diary

My alarm went off at 5am, which already felt deeply un-Parisian. By 6.45am I was at St Pancras, clutching coffee, half awake, and wondering — as one always does at that hour — whether this was a terrible idea.

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By midday, I was in Paris.
And it felt like exactly the right one.

I’d come for just one day, travelling light, moving entirely by public transport, with a tightly plotted route and a very particular companion: …the diary of an American girl who arrived in Paris aged twelve, and wrote faithfully through her childhood there, 1889–1891.

That girl was Alberta Sturges, my husband’s great-grandmother — a future Gilded Heiress, long before the titles. Even before Paris, her parents were already moving in royal circles, while she was busy recording lessons, rides, theatre trips, homesickness, excitement and Christmas… in careful handwriting.

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Below, I’m sharing an exclusive look at Alberta Sturges’ Paris diaries, written between 1889 and 1891 — including never-before-seen pages describing her Christmas in Paris, trimming the Christmas tree with her best friend Grace, and her first impressions of France’s kings, queens, and monuments.

To read on, view the diary pages, and follow Alberta’s footsteps through Paris with me, consider upgrading your subscription today.

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