Robert Tombs, emeritus professor of history at Cambridge (St John’s College), is a specialist in the history of France in the 19the century. He notably wrote, with Isabelle Tombs, France and the United Kingdom. intimate enemies (Armand Colin, 2012).
How would you define Queen Elizabeth II’s relationship with France?
It’s hard to determine, because she never stepped out of her official role. I would say that the political relationship between France and the United Kingdom is on two levels. The first level is that between States and peoples. This is to ensure long-term friendly relations between good neighbours. This is the queen’s domain. The second level is that of day-to-day politics, between changing governments and difficulties that come and go. The feeling of friendship between the two countries was something fundamental for the Queen. During her interventions in France, she chose expressions with care, refusing those which were not appropriate, as during her last official visit to France, where she spoke with finesse of “this unique blend of friendship, good-humored rivalry, and admiration” between the two countries.
She spoke French, no doubt admired General de Gaulle, perhaps with a hint of annoyance, like many English people. But if she had friendship for certain foreign heads of state, they are rather Reagan, Mandela and Obama. She was perhaps less spontaneously Francophile than some of her predecessors, such as Queen Victoria (1819-1901) or Edward VII (1841-1910), who regularly spent their holidays in France, in Biarritz or in the spa towns. Edouard was bon vivant and cosmopolitan, as one could be during the Belle Epoque. His successors have refocused on their family life and on Great Britain. Elizabeth II’s favorite country was undoubtedly Scotland.
At the time of the “affair” in France, Queen Victoria had intervened to support Dreyfus. But Queen Elizabeth has never manifested herself in this way in times of tension between France and the United Kingdom, for example when de Gaulle said no to London joining the European Community, or when the war in Iraq, when the disagreements between Tony Blair and Jacques Chirac were sharp. She does not play politics, she remains at the level of long-term relations between the two nations.
Throughout her life, she was discretion itself. She was thrifty with words, so her word carried weight. At the time of the Scottish referendum in 2014, she simply asked voters to think. In Ireland, she very briefly expressed regret for ” some things “ in the past – an ostensibly innocuous phrase but one that had a big impact. She never said anything of comparable importance about Franco-British relations.
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