Versailles Twinning Visit Expected This Month

Published on: 2 Sep, 2018
Updated on: 4 Sep, 2018

The Hotel de Ville, Versailles – Photo Wikipedia

A contingent of representatives from Versailles, France is expected to visit Guildford later this month, Tuesday and Wednesday 18-19th (September 2018). Some events and visits are being planned but there is still no official announcement by Guildford Borough Council (GBC).

The intention to pursue a proposal for the new twinning has been known for some time but the council’s reticence might be due to the controversy provoked by the partnership with Dongying, China. Some councillors felt that it was an unsuitable partnership and that it was rushed through the council without proper process being followed.

A twinning with a town bearing the world-renowned, historic name of Versailles, famed for its 17th-century palace, is likely to be more popular but it is not yet a done deal and the Versailles authorities are understood to have said that the proposal would need to be subject to public consultation.

The formal gardens at the Palace of Versailles.

In May (2018) the Guildford-Freiburg Association changed its name to the Guildford Twinning Association (GTA), in anticipation of the council finding more twins, in accordance with their apparent policy decision.

In the GTA newsletter, the association’s new chair, Barbara Ford, wrote that the name change made them ready to: “…embrace any future Guildford twinning if Guildford Borough Council’s negotiations with Versailles, France, do result in a twinning, we will be ready to leap into action”.

During the early stages of the new twinning policy it was discovered that Guildford had been twinned with the French town of Bar le Duc, Department Grand Est in northeastern France during the post-war period but the relationship had not been developed and when approached the Bar de Duc authorities did not wish it to be revived.

The world famous Hall of Mirrors inside the palace – Photo Wikipedia

It was then that the search for a suitable French twin is believed to have been referred to the British Embassy in Paris who had also received a request for twinning from Versailles.

In January, the Prime Minister Theresa May, during an official dinner at the Victoria and Albert Museum to mark the 35th Franco-British Summit, jumped the gun when she praised Anglo-French links such as the “new twinning between Guildford and Versailles”.

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