This is a diplomatic visit intended to warm up Franco-British relations, damaged by Brexit. But the state visit of King Charles III to France this Wednesday will not be a burden for this Francophile king, lover of French architecture and gastronomy. A king who speaks French well and who has already made 34 stays in the country.
Charles fell into Francophilia as a child. His mother, Queen Elizabeth II, and his father, Prince Philip, very Francophiles, spoke excellent French.
“I remember the pleasure I had in discovering this beautiful country for the first time and, in turn, cultivating great affection for the French people,” Queen Elizabeth explained in French, during her speech at the 2014 State Dinner, evoking her first visit to France, in 1948, before becoming queen.
“She, France and the United Kingdom shared not only a ‘cordial understanding’, but a warm, sincere and loyal partnership,” declared Emmanuel Macron after the death of the sovereign, in September 2022.
The future king himself gave a vibrant speech on Franco-British friendship and cooperation on June 18, 2020, during the commemorations of General de Gaulle’s appeal in 1940. “I am particularly proud that [la] “The statue of General De Gaulle is not only here in our capital, but it is a few steps from that of my beloved grandparents, who so admired his bravery,” he declared.
Speaks French “like in Canada”
From very early on, the queen dedicated herself to cultivating this Francophilia, but also to preparing Charles for his future role. The summer she turned 11, she hired a tutor, responsible for speaking to her only in French, during her vacation at Balmoral, as the newspaper mentions. Press in 2021. French media, including The world, We were surprised that the queen had chosen a Canadian, one Jean Lajeunesse, for this task. The Queen’s spokesman responds that young Charles is the future head of the Commonwealth and that “the Queen believes that being able to speak French ‘as in Canada’ would be of great importance to Prince Charles.”
Some ten years later, in November 1970, the 22-year-old prince was sent to General de Gaulle’s funeral, where he represented the queen. France, despite everything, is for Charles associated with his passions and centers of personal interest. And if he made numerous official visits and attended numerous commemorations of the First and Second World Wars, Charles also made numerous pleasure visits.
Clams and periwinkles
It all began in 1968, when the future king, then a student of archeology and anthropology, traveled to the Dordogne and Brittany, with his teacher and mentor Daniel Glyn, to discover the monoliths of Carnac and the prehistoric site of Les Eyzies. In addition to discovering the heritage, young Charles learned about local specialties. “They serve oysters, clams, prawns, periwinkles, curry combs, lobster, sole meunière, washed down with muscat and Barsac,” says the journalist from Western France.
In 1977, Charles played a polo match in Deauville, another of his passions. And if he loses, the prince does not stop “sacrificing himself to the pleasures of Norman gastronomy” in Honfleur and Pont-l’Evêque, according to television archives of the time.
He also established himself as a defender of French cheeses in 2015, at the Institute of France in Paris, where he received the François Rabelais award for his commitment to organic farming. “In a bacteriologically correct society, what will become of Brie de Meaux, Crottin de Chavignol or Bleu d’Auvergne?”, he says in French, demonstrating an impeccable culture of French cheeses.
A “heritage fanatic”
Also in 1977, the mayor of Bordeaux, Jacques Chaban-Delmas, invited him to the exhibition. British painting from Gainsborough to Bacon, in the Fine Arts Gallery. The opportunity for the prince to feed his passion for art and painting, but also to visit the city.
In 1988, his passion for architecture took him to France. Eager to visit the castles of the Loire, King Charles arrives in Chambord by helicopter, flanked by Princess Diana.
“He is a fan of heritage, of the Loire of course, but in general, “He fought a lot in Britain to avoid certain destruction, to avoid historic habitats,” he confided to France blue last May Jack Lang, then mayor of Blois and Minister of Culture. “He often told me how dazzled he was by these trips to the Loire Valley,” he recalls.
“Diana seemed very bored during the entire visit led by the historian Monique Chatenet, while Charles showed that he knew Francis I and Leonardo da Vinci,” he said then. The New Republic.
In 1990, Prince Charles returned alone to the Eure to mock the brush. A painter in his free time, he went to Giverny, to Monet’s gardens, to take a “bath of impressionism”, as the newspaper of the time wrote. The Democrat that adds “As a bachelor, the future king of England visited the master’s gardens before sitting down to ‘lunch’ and setting up his easel.” About fifty gendarmes, police officers and CRS allowed the prince to spend an afternoon alone with the water lilies.
So many sweet memories that the prince will be able to remember when he sets foot on French soil this September 20.
Source: BFM TV
