French airport to be renamed after Queen Elizabeth II
The Queen visited the town in the 1930s when it was a playground for the rich and famous
A small airport in northern France is to be renamed after the late Queen Elizabeth II.
The airport serves Le Touquet – a coastal resort town that has been popular with British royals, aristocrats, and literati for decades.
Due to its close proximity to the English Channel, the Touquet-Paris-Plage airport is known as “the most British of French airports”.
From 14 October, it will be known as Le Touquet-Paris-Plage Elizabeth II, the town’s local authority announced this week.
The Queen herself visited the town with her uncle Edward VIII when she was a young princess in the 1930s.
The Prince of Wales, who later became king, was one of the figures who frequented the baccarat table at the town’s casino.
The town was also popular with British writers – such as Noël Coward, who spent weekends there in the 1920s, and P.G. Wodehouse, who lived there in the 1930s, reportedly for tax reasons.
Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond, is said to have used Le Touquet as the setting for some of 007’s escapades.
The local authority of Le Touquet said: “To pay tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and in memory of her visit to Le Touquet with her uncle Edward VIII, during which she practised both horse riding and sand yachting, the town of Le Touquet-Paris-Plage wishes to name its airport after her.
“For 70 years she served her country with commitment, respect and constancy at the same time as she was always attentive to good relations between our two nations, she who spoke French and appreciated our country.”
Guillaume Andraud, director of communications at the airport, added: “The most British of French resorts has had unbreakable links with the United Kingdom.
“From its founder Sir John Whitley, to the inspiring stays of the author of the James Bond saga, Ian Fleming, through the names of its villas or even its majestic belfry ringing Big Ben every hour of the day, everything Touquet-Paris-Plage breathes a wind of British spirit and elegance.”
For some of the 1950s, about 20 years after the airport opened, it was the third busiest airport in France after Paris and Nice.
From 1956 to 1980, it was used for the Silver Arrow service which passengers used to travel from London to Paris in four hours.
The service began by train from London to either Gatwick, East Sussex, or Lydd and Manston, Kent. Passengers were then flown to Le Touquet.
Now, the airport no longer runs scheduled services but is used by pilots of private planes.
Many of the pilots fly from the UK to the town on weekends to partake in golf and gambling.
French president Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte’s main holiday home is in the town.
The pair were photographed in the town earlier this year casting their votes at a polling booth during the presidential elections.
Mr Macron has confirmed that he has cancelled UN meetings in New York to attend the Queen’s funeral on Monday (19 September).
After holding his first telephone conversation with King Charles III, he tweeted: “I will be in London to attend the funeral.”
More than 2,000 world leaders and heads of state are expected to fill Westminster Abbey for the state funeral.
The Queen died aged 96 earlier this month at Balmoral castle in Scotland.
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