The special relationship between Elizabeth II and France

 

Since the Queen's death we have seen some amazing reporting on the French News Channels about how the Queen loved France and how that love was reciprocated by the French people.

Here are some things you might not know about Elizabeth II and France:

• The queen loved speaking French and spoke it fluently.

• France is the European country that Elizabeth II has visited the most. She has made five state visits there, in 1957, 1972, 1992, 2004 and 2014, not counting unofficial and private visits.

• She held  the title of Duchess of Normandy. This title allowed her to govern the Channel Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney and Sark.

 

• The Queen had some French in her blood. This came from léonore Desmier d’Olbreuse who is known as the grandmother of Europe. She is the link to the King of England, George I, Queen Victoria’s great-great-grandfather.Éléonore is also the ancestor of FRench President François Mitterrand,which would make them very distant cousins...

• Her first official visit abroad without her parents was to Paris in May 1948. She was 22 years old and had just married Prince Philip. It was a four day trip and it was the first time in her life that Elizabeth left British soil. No one knew it at the time, but she was pregnant with a baby boy to be named Charles.

• In 1957 she made her first official visit to Paris where her Majesty was received with great pomp at the Palace of Versailles by President René Coty. A sumptuous reception took place in the Hall of Mirrors with a menu of Grand Siècle woodcock supreme on plates costing 100,000 francs each.This was followed by  a gala dinner was organised in the Salle des Cariatides in the Louvre, amidst the paintings. Buckingham Palace had sent the Elysée Palace a memo concerning the Queen:“Her Majesty has a small appetite but will eat just about anything, except caviar, oysters and shellfish in general. She prefers simple food. ”
  

• There is a flower market in Paris named in her honor.

•  She has visited many places in France including the Loire Valley, Provence,Normandy, Burgundy, Strasbourg,Toulouse, Bordeaux  but she never visited the Dordogne.

• She was given a horse by President Macron as a gift for her Platinum jubilee and I hope she enjoyed her special gift from a country who adored her.

Wishing you a belle week-end from a very sad France ♥

Leeann x

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