A small corner of a foreign land that is ‘forever England’ is about to take another step towards becoming even more ‘Anglicised’ when it adds Queen Elizabeth II to it’s name.
Le Touquet-Paris-Plage’s International Airport is about to experience what its local civil dignitaries call “a turning point in its history.”
The official name change will take place 17 May 2025
On 17 May, on the same day as the ‘Le Touquet air show’ , the airport will officially take the name of ‘Elizabeth II Le Touquet-Paris-Plage International Airport’.
Whilst agreement for the name change had already been given by King Charles III, a date for the inauguration had yet to be set.
This has now been confirmed so the official inauguration ceremony will take place in less than two months. It comes just after the 80th anniversary of VE Day which will be marked in the UK with four days of celebrations from 5-8 May.
The change to the airport’s name is the town’s direct tribute to the late Queen – and also to her uncle – who are both known to have loved France, and in recognition of Le Touquet Paris Plage traditionally being the ‘most British of French resorts’.
Honouring the late Queen’s exceptional life
The proposal was first made to the British Crown just six days after the death of Queen Elizabeth II, in order to pay tribute to what the town’s authorities call the ‘exceptional life’ of Her Majesty and in memory of Her Majesty’s uncle (King Edward VIII) who was a frequent visitor to the resort by plane.
The young Elizabeth sometimes accompanied her uncle who enjoyed sand yachting and horse riding, two traditional pastimes in the area.
A spokesman for the town council said,
The generous acceptance of the Mayor’s proposal by King Charles III further reinforces the image of Le ouquet as the most British of French resorts.
The bond that ties this bit of France to England (quite literally – see below) has been well established for decades.
Le Touquet has a long connection to Britain
The deep roots linking Le Touquet to the opposite shore began with the purchase of the town by John Robinson Whitley, a linoleum magnate from Leeds, in 1894. When the British entrepreneur bought a coveted stretch of land at Le Touquet that year he transformed the fortunes of this seaside town in Northern France.
Whitley launched a construction boom in the village and its rapid expansion contributed to the French government’s creation of a separate commune in 1912. Numerous prestigious hotels were built, and at its peak of prosperity in the Roaring Twenties the resort boasted the biggest casino in France by revenue, the Royal Picardy, an ultra-luxury hotel.
There is also a history of aeronautical excellence.
Le Touquet Aiport was opened in the 1930’s
The airport itself was designed in the 1930s to offer air transport to the British customers who flocked to Le Touquet.
In the 1950s, it became a valuable link between Great Britain and the continent.
Such was the tourism boom the airport,close to the ‘most elegant of French beaches’, actually became the third airport in France in terms of passenger traffic, after Orly in Paris and Nice.
In the years to come, it is hoped that the Elizabeth II International Airport will continue to further strengthen the friendship between Le Touquet and Great Britain.”
Further events in recent years have reinforced this special link, including restoration of the Town Hall bells that now rings out the same melody as Big Ben in London, the hosting of the Red Arrows during the 2022 airshow and England rugby team using Le Touquet Paris Plage as their World Cup base camp in 2023.
The aim, said the spokesman, is to ensure that town and its airport remain “a strong instrument linking us with Great Britain, in particular by welcoming tourist planes from across the Channel.
Mayor Daniel Fasquelle remembers the airport’s past
Town mayor Daniel Fasquelle said the airport’s new name was a “great honour”.
He said the “glorious past” of Le Touquet-Paris-Plage International Airport ”is a mosaic of significant events that have shaped its importance in the history of our resort.”
Such events include:
- On 6 April 1936, Le Touquet-Paris-Plage entered the world of aviation with a landmark event. The festivities began with the arrival of the first British aircraft, the ‘Scylla’ (G-ACJJ) of Imperial Airways. Carrying 42 passengers, this flying masterpiece boasted a bar and restaurant on board, adding a touch of glamour to the skies;
- The late 1940s saw the emergence of a revolutionary idea: crossing the English Channel with cars. The Bristol 170 Freighter, specially designed for this challenge, opened an air bridge between the airports of Touquet and Lympne, then Lydd, in Kent.This line, operated from 1948 to 1958 by a British company, performed more than 125,000 flights and transported 759,000 passengers, marking an essential step in aviation history;
- On 6 April1940,the airport welcomed the first Royal Air Force aircraft, in preparation for imminent offensive actions. A squadron of British Expeditionary Force Hurricane fighters stationed to support the French Air Force in case of German attack, symbolized courage and determination. On 10 May 1940, the Luftwaffe bombed the airport, destroying the British planes (the majority of the British pilots were at the Algys café-bar at the time of the attacks);
- On 5 April 1956, Prince Philip, an amateur pilot, landed at Le Touquet airport for his first flight across the Channel;
- On 10 June 1971 a new era began with the inauguration of a direct airport railway line from Touquet-Paris-Plage to Paris, run by “the Silver Arrow”. The SNCF service, indirectly linking the French capital to England, helped strengthen the reputation of the resort.The traveller would leave from Paris, and after a change at Etaples-sur-Mer station, take a flight from Le Touquet, shortening the duration of a Paris-London journey to less than 4 hours;
- One hundred years after the visit of her great-grandfather, King George V, Princess Anne landed on the tarmac at Le Touquet airport on 14 May 2022 before going to Etaples to pay tribute to the armed forces in the largest Commonwealth Cemetery in France;
- Six days after the death of Queen Elizabeth II, the town hall of Le Touquet-Paris-Plage announced it wanted to change the name of its airport to pay tribute to her and her uncle King Edward VIII, who had visited the seaside resort where he had practised horse riding and sand yachting.
The airport has been in the news in the past
The airport, located 2.9 km east-south-east of the city of Le Touquet-Paris-Plage on the coast of northern France, has had a colourful history.
This includes making the international news on 2 May 1981 when an Aer Lingus flight carrying 108 passengers and crew was hijacked on a flight from Dublin to Heathrow. The hijacker forced the pilots to fly to Le Touquet where the planethen stood for nearly 10 hours before French armed forces troops stormed the aircraft and apprehended the suspect. No one was killed or injured.
While serving as a significant regional airport, Le Touquet-Paris-Plage is no longer among the largest or busiest in France, ranking as a smaller airport compared to major hubs like Charles de Gaulle or Orly.
A popular destination for British flyers
Even so, it is probably one of the most popular European destination for UK flyers and offers routes to several UK airports, including London Stansted, East Midlands, Manchester and Bournemouth. Some flyers use the on-site bicycle rental (now available with electric power) to travel into the nearby town for a weekend away.
In the past, it attracted Winston Churchill and inspired James Bond.
The 007 Suite at local Hotel Barriere Le Westminster is where Bond author Ian Fleming stayed and where Sean Connery was thought to have signed the contract for his Bond role.
To this day, English is heard everywhere, from the Art Deco Westminster hotel to the lighthouse, which, on the occasion of the late Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee, was lit up with Her Majesty’s favourite colours.
President Macron’s wife Brigitte inherited a villa in the town and they often spend time in Le Touquet and vote there.
All eyes will shortly turn to May 17 and the official renaming of the airport, an event likely to be marked by high level representatives from both sides of the English Channel.
