In 1972, on the sidelines of her second state visit to France, Queen Elizabeth, accompanied by her husband, Prince Philip, and her son and heir, Charles, spent 24 hours in Provence for a purely tourist stay.
After a very formal visit to Paris, during which the British monarch had met President Georges Pompidou, and a more private meeting with her uncle the Duke of Windsor, who had abdicated in 1936 paving the way to the throne for the young princess Elizabeth, the royal family had embarked May 17, 1972 for Nimes.
On the program of these 24 hour stay in Provence, the ancient monuments of Arles, a helicopter flight over the Camargue, a gin and tonic and lunch in Fonvieille, an express tour of the Palais des Papes in Avignon, tea-time in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence , an “intimate” dinner for 30 guests followed by a night in Les Baux-de-Provence and then on to Normandy, via Marignane.
– Alain Nogues
– Jean-Pierre Loth / INA
