While most aristocrats went to the guillotine during the French Revolution, some did not.  While most châteaux became 'property of the state' on the untimely deaths of their owners, some did not.  Château Montpoupon is one of the latter.  The local people would not permit their Countess to be dispossessed of her favorite hunting lodge.

Not all aristocrats, apparently, treated their peasants like peasants.