These Parisian places that the queen loved

The Queen was very fond of France and made at least fifteen trips there, including five state visits. After Germany, which the Queen visited 7 times, it was in France and the United States that Her Majesty made her most frequent state visits.

The Queen made her first state visit to Paris in April 1957, where she was received with great pomp by President René Coty.

Queen Elizabeth II and President René Coty during the dinner in the Hall of Mirrors – Versailles 1957

The queen wrote: “This enthusiastic welcome delighted us, and we felt that, coming from the bottom of our hearts, it was only the expression of the deep and lasting affection that has long existed between our two peoples…/…We will always remember the theater that has just been restored at Versailles, the songs of the little singers placed in front of the illuminated rose window of Notre-Dame, the choice of masterpieces that the Louvre has gathered and that we have admired.”

Program for the evening of April 9, 1957 at the Versailles Opera
Versailles Opera House, April 9, 1957
The Versailles Opera now programs many concerts and operas

Visit the park of Bagatelle: https://www.parisinfo.com/musee-monument-paris/71636/Parc-de-Bagatelle-Jardin-botanique-de-Paris

Learn more about the Royal Opera House: https://www.chateauversailles.fr/decouvrir/domaine/chateau/opera-royal#souhaite-par-louis-xiv-realise-sous-louis-xv

Queen Elizabeth II went to Paris again for an official trip in 1972 where she was received by President Pompidou and then in 1992 where Her Majesty was welcomed by President François Mitterrand and Jacques Chirac, notably in the beautiful and little known Bagatelle Park, which I highly recommend visiting.

Queen Elizabeth II, President Mitterrand, Prime Minister Jacques Chirac and his wife in 1992
The Bagatelle park (above) and the Auteuil greenhouses (below) constitute a historical botanical complex of great interest

Visit the park of Bagatelle: https://www.parisinfo.com/musee-monument-paris/71636/Parc-de-Bagatelle-Jardin-botanique-de-Paris

Learn more about the Auteuil greenhouses: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jardin_des_serres_d%27Auteuil

It was then in 2004 that the Royal couple officially visited France for the hundredth anniversary of the Entente Cordiale between the United Kingdom and France. They were welcomed at the Place de la Concorde by President Jacques Chirac. The Queen then strolled through the beautiful rue Montorgueil where she stopped at the Stohrer patisserie.

Elisabeth II, Jean Delanoë, mayor of Paris, at the Stohrer pastry shop – 2004

Read our article on the walk in the Montorgueil district and the chapter on the Stohrer pastry shop, founded in 1730, particularly famous for its rum babas: https://www.relaisdulouvre.com/hotel-de-charme/actualites-paris-1er/Promenade%20dans%20le%20quartier%20Montorgueil%20pres%20du%20Relais%20du%20Louvre

The Stohrer pastry shop is located 51 rue Montorgueil, 12 minutes walk from the Relais du Louvre.
Open 7 days a week from 7:30 am to 8:30 pm
Web site: http://stohrer.fr/

Finally, in June 2014, the Queen will make her last state visit to France on the occasion of the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the 1944 landings, alongside Presidents François Hollande and Barack Obama.

The Queen said, “Wherever they are when they meet, our countrymen always find that unique blend of friendship, good-natured rivalry, as well as admiration that is the essence of the ties that bind Britain and France.”

Her Mmajesty went the next day to the Flower Market on the Ile de la Cité, renamed after her for the occasion. The Queen had indeed particularly liked this place that she had discovered during her first trip to Paris in 1948. It is true that the Queen Elizabeth II Flower Market, located 10 minutes walk from the Relais du Louvre, on the Ile de la Cité is particularly charming and worth a visit.

Goodbye Your Majesty, Paris also holds you in its heart.

19, rue des Prêtres-Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois
75001 Paris

+33 (0)1 40 41 96 42

contact@relaisdulouvre.com

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