A string of Left-leaning French mayors are revolting against government orders to fly flags at half-mast for the Queen’s funeral, arguing that Emmanuel Macron and the media are displaying an unhealthy penchant for the British monarchy in the land of the French Revolution, reports The Telegraph.
After her death, Mr Macron issued an emotional tribute to Britain and the “Queen of hearts” and his prime minister, Elisabeth Borne, instructed town halls and other public buildings to lower the French flag to half-mast next Monday.
But the order was not to the taste of Yann Galut, mayor of the central city of Bourges.
“This request seems incredible to me,” Mr Galut, a former senior Socialist Party official, said. “I respect the sorrow of our English friends but I will not put up the French flag [at half mast] over the municipal buildings of Bourges.”
He said later on France 3 television: “We are a republican country. Why should I pay tribute to a foreign monarch?”