Queen Victoria’s French spa town life revived in new book

His name was Jacquot. He was bought from a peasant in the Alpine spa of Aix-les-Bains for 200 francs – a purchase securing Queen Victoria the services of a royal mule who returned with her to Buckingham Palace, where his duties included distributing Christmas presents to the royal grandchildren. Continue reading…

France faces up to scandal of Réunion’s stolen children

Jean-Jacques Martial was six years old when he arrived at Orly airport in Paris one November morning wearing flip-flops and shorts. He had been removed from his grandmother’s care in the French island territory of Réunion as part of an official scheme to help boost the falling population in the rural heart of the mother country. He had only one idea in his head: “I was going to cultivate myself and I would denounce what had happened to me,” he said. Continue reading…