Charles III on conquered ground? The king concludes his three-day state visit to France this Friday with a stopover in Bordeaux, a city that symbolizes ties with England, which reigned in Bordeaux for three centuries.
In 1152, the marriage of Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine, to Henry II Plantagenet, who would become King of England two years later, marked the beginning of three centuries of English domination in the province, until the end of the Hundred War. Years. in 1453. Today, New Aquitaine remains the land of choice for a quarter of British residents in France, according to INSEE, or 39,000 residents in 2016.
“Aquitaine was united to England for almost 300 years, it was part of the crown of England (…) We can think that they chose [la région] for this strong past,” Guilhem Pépin, a specialist in English Aquitaine, recalls to BFMTV.
The environment at the center of this stage
Charles III’s first interlocutor in Bordeaux will be the environmentalist mayor of the city, Pierre Hurmic, who declared a state of climate emergency after his election in 2020. A convinced environmentalist, King Charles III thus placed the environment at the center of his last stop in France.
You will then visit an experimental forest in Floirac, where scientists from the University of Bordeaux and Inrae (National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment) have been studying the response of forests to environmental changes since 2020. They are especially interested in their adaptation to drought in a region still marked by the gigantic fires of summer 2022.
Finally, before departing by plane to the United Kingdom, the royal couple will meet for one last stop at Château Smith Haut Lafitte, founded in the 14th century and an 87-hectare wine estate converted to biodynamics.
“It seemed logical to us, because we have the same values. We were pioneers in the protection of the environment and biodiversity. We hope to be able to include a small phrase in their honor in this year’s vintage, because it is an incredible visit,” confesses the owner of the Florence Cathiard Castle to BFMTV.
Source: BFM TV
