Stranger than fiction.
Guardian, France and UK considered 1950s ‘merger’,
Britain and France talked about a “union” in the 1950s, even discussing the possibility of the Queen becoming the French head of state, it was reported today.
On September 10 1956, Guy Mollet, the then French prime minister, came to London to discuss the possibility of a merger between the two countries with his British counterpart, Sir Anthony Eden, according to declassified papers from the National Archives, uncovered by the BBC.
Not, it seems, a joke, as it’s also at the Times, Were we nearly les franglais?
Traumatised by Suez and the fighting in Algeria, a desperate French Prime Minister floated the idea of merging with Britain in 1956 and installing the Queen as head of state of the two countries, the BBC will report tonight.
Records of conversations between Anthony Eden, the British Prime Minister, and his Cabinet Secretary, Sir Norman Brook, show that the idea was swiftly dismissed but that serious thought was given to a secondary proposal to make France a member of the Commonwealth.
I saw extended coverage on this bizarre item on BBC world this evening, and of course the Brits played it as a satire piece. They took the cameras to France and interviewed random people on the prospect of such a merger. One woman’s response was priceless. She agreed that such a merger might be mutually edifying but then took pains to add … “but of course I would insist that French cuisine take precedence over the English er … food” … or words to that effect.
Ironically London and Paris are the unofficial capitals of Eurabia. It just took a little time, and a complete rejection of Western values, but indeed it seems the merger is shaping up. Funny how history repeats itself (but do not take this remark to imply that Iran is a new Hitler’s Germany…that would be a silly thing to say).