FRANCE & BRITAIN

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 151, 29 June 1938, Page 12

FRANCE & BRITAIN

SOME ROYAL VISITS EDWARD VII AND ENTENTE CORDIALE HISTORY INFLUENCED No Englishman living in Paris can fail to be struck by the genuine cordiality with which France is preparit.t to welcome the King and Queen upon their State visit this month, writes Geoffrey S. Myers from Paris to the "Daily Telegraph and Morning Post."

From the members of the Cabinet to the man in the street, all are determined to make the visit a brilliant success. Government officials, municipal councillors, business men, and journalists have been vying with one another in suggesting new ideas for the reception programme, for the comfort of their Majestigs, and for the street decorations.

About 500 workmen and artisans have been busy redecorating the Quai d'Orsay Palace, where the King and Queen will stay. Many more hundreds are working on the street decorations. Each detail of the visit is being carefully considered by committees presided over by Cabinet Ministers.

During the past hundred years British Sovereigns have not infrequently stayed in France as private persons, but their State visits have been rare. Queen Victoria paid only one State visit to France during her long reign, though as early as 1843 she and the Prince Consort stayed with Louis Philippe at the Chateau d'Eu, near Dieppe.

They were given a good reception at Treport, and the stay at Eu was marked by festivities and a review. Queen Victoria wrote to hdr uncle, Leopold I of the Belgians, from "the midst of this admirable and truly amiable family," to say how fully she felt at home at the Chateau.

The following year the Quai d'Orsay Palace was built, with its suite for the reception of foreign Sovereigns, It is said that these rooms, in which their Majesties will stay while in Paris, were specially designed at the time with an eye to the future reception of Queen Victoria.

A VISIT RETURNED. During the Crimean War, Napoleon 111 paid a State visit to England and had a warm reception. In August, 1855, the Queen and the Prince Consort, with their children, returned the visit. They arrived at Boulogne in their yacht Victoria and Albert, and stayed nine days in France. Queen Victoria, in a letter to King Leopold, described the Paris scene as "splendidly decorated—illuminated —immensely crowded—and 60,000 troops out." She remarked that "the children arc so fond of the Emperor, who is so very kind to them."

The visit made a lasting impression on the young Prince oi' Wales, in manhood to become the most familiar and most popular of all British Royalties in Paris. "He pleased the French immensely," Andre Maurois writes. "His Scottish kilt and his lively and curious air amused the crowd. He said to the Emperor: 'You have a nice country. I would like to be your son.'" When he came to the Throne nearly half a century later as King Edward VII, Anglo-French relations appeared to oiler little chance of the good understanding for which he personally hoped. The alliance of the Crimean War had been forgotten in colonial rivalries. After the Fashoda incident, French animosity against England was expressed in public acclamation of the Boers, Forces working in both countries for a rapprochement appeared to be held in check.

On the retirement of Lord Salisbury, Delcasse's constant efforts to reach an entente with England met with more sympathy. The business world in both countries had been converted to the idea by such men as Sir Thomas Barclay. Nevertheless, when in 1903 King Edward proposed his visit to Paris, nobody imagined that "he would succeed, almost overnight, in bringing about cordial relations between the two countries. A SULLEN CROWD. A month before the King arrival in Paris, M. Paul Cambon, French Ambassador in London, wrote to M. Delcasse, the Foreign Minister, saying that although Anglo-French relations were improving, they were "not such as to allow very official manifestations." On April 12, M. Rouvier, French Ambassador in Lisbon, where King Edward VII was staying, wrote to Mr. Delcasse of the King's "very definite desire that his visit to France should be accompanied by all the desirable ceremonial." On May 1 the King was welcomed at the Bois de Boulogne Station by M. Loubet, President of the Republic, and all the dignitaries of the State. After the Royal salute of 101 guns, he drove with M. Loubet up the avenue and down the Champs Elysees to the British Embassy. Sir Sidney Lee, in his biography of Edward Vn, thus describes the scene: "The crowd was for the most part sullenly respectful in its demeanour, but cries were heard of 'Vivent los Boers,' 'Vive Marchand,' and 'Vive Fashoda.' ... A few hats were doffed and there were a few acclamations. "The King turned now to the right, now to the left, returning the salutes in a punctilious manner, smiling whenever he was cheered. One divined his carefulness to neglect nothing, to reply to all. He at least was determined to be pleased. Sir Francis Laking, who accompanied the King as medical attendant, reported that on arrival the King did not have a very good reception. His suite, especially, was booed. Someone noticing this remarked to the King: 'The French don't like us,' and the King characteristically replied: 'Why should they?'" A SIGNIFICANT SPEECH. The same day the' King delivered a speech to a deputation of the British Chamber of Commerce in Paris. He referred to England and France as the "champions of peaceful progress and civilisation." He hoped that "the friendship and admiration which we all feel for the French nation and their glorious traditions may in the near future develop into a sentiment of the warmest affection and attachment between the peoples of the two countries." The report of the speech pleased the French public. That night King Edward went to the Comedie Francaise. On his arrival, catcalls rose from the crowd. The audicnce, composed for the most part of Deputies, Senators, and officials, remained frigid. In the interval the King met Mademoiselle Jeanne Granier, whom he-had seen acting in England. "Mademoiselle," he said, holding out his hand to her, "I remember how I applauded you in London. You personified there all the grace, all the esprit of France." He succeeded in his determination to be pleased—and to please. . The second day. when driving to Vinccnnes to attend a review of 18,000 troops, the King was genuinely cheercd. At the Hotel de Ville afterwards he chose just the words calculated to win the hearts of Parisians. He said that he would never forget their charming

city, "where I am treated exactly as if I were at home."

The King expressed his desire for an entente cordiaie on the third evening when replying to a toast by Pre-