French snub royals at D.Day anniversary..

[Tricky]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...-wont-act.html It seems that sarkozy wants to make the whole D.Day anniversary about sucking up to Barack Obama although im not much of a royalist myself i do think the queen should have been invited & allowed to lay wreaths in rememberance of the 17,556 british soldiers who died fighting in the Normandy campaign! Sorry to you americans who come on the board,im not aiming this at you personally,but it does make me really angry that in recent years hollywood and the media are constantly playing down the sacrifices Britain made in world war 2 to make it look like the americans won the whole war single handedly,in saving private ryan there wasnt a single Brit soldier seen in the entire film,despite the fact we took 3 of the 5 Normandy beaches with the canadians!In the film U-571 Hollywood made out that it was american forces who captured the enigma machine when it was in fact the Royal navy who captured it before america had even entered the war,and even in the pearl harbour film they had to sneak in a sequence of ben affleck fighting in the battle of britain despite the fact only 10 american volunteers flew in that campaign out of 1,103 fighter pilots!even in the otherwise excellent Band of Brothers series the few brits shown were inept toffs in tanks in the market garden episode!and dont get get me started on computer games which are largely an all american effort I appreciate that America played an undeniably big part in the final outcome of the war & a lot of sacrifices were made,but it makes a lot of british people angry that our own efforts are largely ignored or americanised & this snub to our head of state at the D.Day anniversary is just the latest incident of it!America isnt to blame for this one though,its the arrogant & ungrateful french this time! You only have to look at the war memorials in every town & village in the country to see how many of our men died in that war

[capncnut]

Well said, Trick. And yeah, while I think the Royals are a bunch of leeching, toffee-nosed prats, they had every right to attend. It's bang out of order, mate.

[Craig]

I think this could be classed as 'a bloody outrage'. I'm not blinded by patriotism and national pride, but when it comes to veterans and war memorials this just saddens me.

[Danny]

jeremy clarkson is now in a coma due to a sarcasm overload. ...or, could you call it a sarcgasm?

[kortick]

Is there some reason why the french have taken this pretty insulting gesture towards england? Is there some problems between the 2 countries? And as for france if Bush was still president I think he would be the one to not get the invite. So this show of how much the french like obama means nothing, they can turn and hate him in a second. But dont be of the assumption that the efforts of the english in the war are not known by the americans. There is a cable channel that shows nothing but WWII stories, and it shows how the english and americans fought side by side. Hollywood movies are garbage anyways, but the real stories of the war are shown regularly. It is kinda rude not to invite queen. U think that liberating someones country from nazis would make u a bit appreciative.

[Neil]

Maybe, they, just like the rest of us, have just realised the Royal Family are just a bunch of individuals born into a life of wealth and power, and don't actually merit this position at all in a modern society? That said, the Queen lives through WW2 and even stayed on in London when it would have been far safer for her to have left!

[MoonSylver]

The problem w/ the portrayal of the British effort in popular entertainment is due to POV. Everyone usually adepts their own POV, telling their own portion of the story, at the exclusion of everyone elses. I remember when Heartbreak Ridge was coming out, the Army was ticked because the movie made it look like a Marine effort, when it was mostly Army. But the movie was only focused on that one portion. There have been complaints that black cowboys are not more prominently featured in westerns or featured in WWII films, etc. (Not to say you don't have a valid point Tricky, as you absolutely do, just pointing out the problem that arises when every one adapts their own POV when telling a much larger story. Exceptionalism creeps in.) Is there some reason why the french have taken this pretty insulting gesture towards england? Is there some problems between the 2 countries? You could say that... The French Knight says... I FAART IN YOUR JEN-ER-AL DI-RECT-SHON!!!

[Tricky]

Maybe, they, just like the rest of us, have just realised the Royal Family are just a bunch of individuals born into a life of wealth and power, and don't actually merit this position at all in a modern society? Regardless of that,she is still the head of the British armed forces by default so its only right that she should be there to commemorate the soldiers who died in the Normandy campaign,i'll be disgusted if they send someone like miliband to represent us there! I just hope Sarkozy & Obama dont treat the remaining British veterans who will definitely be there in person with the same level of ignorance & contempt @ kortick, the french have always had a bit of a problem with the english & us with them,some of it goes back centuries, such as the battle of agincourt & the napoleonic wars,but the french were also bitter towards us during world war 2 because we abandoned france in 1940 after it was clear the germans had won, & our forces would have been destroyed at dunkirk if we hadnt evacuated back to england. The french expected us to fight to the last man for their country which we couldnt do, and they were ungrateful when we came back with the americans & canadians 4 years later to liberate them,i dont think they like the fact they had to be saved by their old enemy...

[Pógmothóin]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...-wont-act.html It seems that sarkozy wants to make the whole D.Day anniversary about sucking up to Barack Obama although im not much of a royalist myself i do think the queen should have been invited & allowed to lay wreaths in rememberance of the 17,556 british soldiers who died fighting in the Normandy campaign! Sorry to you americans who come on the board,im not aiming this at you personally,but it does make me really angry that in recent years hollywood and the media are constantly playing down the sacrifices Britain made in world war 2 to make it look like the americans won the whole war single handedly,in saving private ryan there wasnt a single Brit soldier seen in the entire film,despite the fact we took 3 of the 5 Normandy beaches with the canadians!In the film U-571 Hollywood made out that it was american forces who captured the enigma machine when it was in fact the Royal navy who captured it before america had even entered the war,and even in the pearl harbour film they had to sneak in a sequence of ben affleck fighting in the battle of britain despite the fact only 10 american volunteers flew in that campaign out of 1,103 fighter pilots!even in the otherwise excellent Band of Brothers series the few brits shown were inept toffs in tanks in the market garden episode!and dont get get me started on computer games which are largely an all american effort I appreciate that America played an undeniably big part in the final outcome of the war & a lot of sacrifices were made,but it makes a lot of british people angry that our own efforts are largely ignored or americanised & this snub to our head of state at the D.Day anniversary is just the latest incident of it!America isnt to blame for this one though,its the arrogant & ungrateful french this time! You only have to look at the war memorials in every town & village in the country to see how many of our men died in that war I don't blame anyone who snubs your queen. She is no different than Kim Jung Il or any other dictator, for that matter. At the end of the day, there really isn't any difference between royals and tyrants. As for the overstatement of what was America's involvement in the European theatre, I happen to agree with you. Many sacrificed their lives on Omaha and Utah beach. Not just Americans. The difference is, Britain and France kept giving concessions to Hitler when they should have been gearing up for war. In fact, Britain and France didn't even declare war until their neighbors were completely swallowed up by the huns. If Britain and France would have attacked when they should have, there wouldn't have been any need for a D-Day invasion, and those American lives could have been spared. Most Americans, at the time (and perhaps now), would have been content to just sit and watch Europe burn. Germans, French, Brits.. it's all greek to us.

[Tricky]

I don't blame anyone who snubs your queen. She is no different than Kim Jung Il or any other dictator, for that matter. At the end of the day, there really isn't any difference between royals and tyrants. How so?you do realise the queen of england has no power any more,or any kind of say in our foreign policy or internal politics?all decisions in this country are made by parliament,and if you were to say gordon brown is like kim jong il then i would agree with you. The queen just happens to have the title "head of armed forces" which is why its extremely rude of france not to invite her to represent the armed forces past & present on the D.Day anniversary. The British army was too weak to fight off hitlers army in france with his new blitzkrieg tactics in 1940,or indeed launch a pre emptive attack on germany,and yes we did have weak leadership prior to churchill who appeased the Nazis. Anyway at the end of the day its all hindsight & what happened happened,all that should concern us is that history is represented & remembered as it really happened,& representatives from all nations involved -including germany- should be invited to lay a wreath & say a few words for the men who died fighting there on this anniversary,rather than present day administrations trying to score political points off each other in a popularity contest

[Publius]

How so?you do realise the queen of england has no power any more,or any kind of say in our foreign policy or internal politics? How dare you question the Queen's power! Watch out or she'll have you hauled off to the re-education camps, or simply shot. After all, she's just like Kim Jong-Il. You only have to look at the war memorials in every town & village in the country to see how many of our men died in that war Quite right! The UK's combat dead were only about 10% less than the US combat dead, despite the US population being nearly three times larger. And the UK suffered FAR more civilian deaths, since very little of the war was fought on or over US territory. But the USSR has all the other Allies beat by a long shot, of course.

[krakenslayer]

It's not terribly surprising to be honest, almost understandable in fact when you consider France's history with regards royalty in general. However, symbolically, it's a pretty bad show of indifference towards the "little people" of Britain who fought and died in the war.

[AcesandEights]

How dare you question the Queen's power! Watch out or she'll have you hauled off to the re-education camps, or simply shot. After all, she's just like Kim Jong-Il. That got a chuckle out of me. Nice to see we can still count on you for a healthy sense of perspective, Pub

[childofgilead]

I don't blame anyone who snubs your queen. She is no different than Kim Jung Il or any other dictator, for that matter. At the end of the day, there really isn't any difference between royals and tyrants. As for the overstatement of what was America's involvement in the European theatre, I happen to agree with you. Many sacrificed their lives on Omaha and Utah beach. Not just Americans. The difference is, Britain and France kept giving concessions to Hitler when they should have been gearing up for war. In fact, Britain and France didn't even declare war until their neighbors were completely swallowed up by the huns. If Britain and France would have attacked when they should have, there wouldn't have been any need for a D-Day invasion, and those American lives could have been spared. Most Americans, at the time (and perhaps now), would have been content to just sit and watch Europe burn. Germans, French, Brits.. it's all greek to us. It's comments like this that make the rest of the world think American's are self righteous know it alls who "saved the world". Churchill was an outspoken opponent of giving Hitler ANY leeway. The US's invasion of Europe would have been alot more difficult if not impossible without the ability to use England as a staging area. Also, have you ever heard of the desert war in Africa? God..in a way I want to apologize for the behavior of a fellow American, but really, what's the use?

[Neil]

It's comments like this that make the rest of the world think American's are self righteous know it alls who "saved the world". Churchill was an outspoken opponent of giving Hitler ANY leeway. The US's invasion of Europe would have been alot more difficult if not impossible without the ability to use England as a staging area. Also, have you ever heard of the desert war in Africa? God..in a way I want to apologize for the behavior of a fellow American, but really, what's the use? ...and it makes me believe the rumuor that Michael Caine removed his children from their school in the US when they were taught WWII started in 1941... 'm sure it's only a myth though