A short time later the Hôtel was sold to the Duke of Galliera, Raffaele de Ferrari, member of the Genoese nobility and husband of Marie de Brignole Sale, great niece to the Princess of Monaco. Together they possessed one of the great fortunes of the time; it is claimed that they owned half of Genoa. Founder of the Crédit Mobilier, Raffaele financed many of the major construction projects of the second half of the 19th century: railroads in Austria, Latin America, Portugal and France (the Paris-Lyon-Marseille line), the digging of the Fréjus tunnel and the Suez Canal, the Paris buildings designed by Baron Haussmann... Three years after the fall of Napoleon III (1870), the Duchess proposed that the Count of Paris take up residence at the Rue de Varenne. He came to occupy the ground floor of the Hôtel Matignon. On 14 May 1886, this was the setting of one of the century's most sumptuous receptions: three thousand guests, the entire aristocracy of France, the diplomatic corps and numerous political figures thronged to celebrate the marriage of Princess Amélie, the Count's daughter, with Carlos, heir to the Portuguese throne. The story goes that, on the day of the reception, the President had a sudden desire to visit the Bois de Boulogne, but was unable to leave the Elysée because of the congested traffic. The following day, no doubt alarmed by such a large gathering of Monarchists in the Capital, the President of the Council, Charles de Freycinet, called for a law exiling pretenders to the French throne. The next week the legislation was passed.