Cet article est paru en français le 8 mars 2009(à l'occasion de la Journée Mondiale de la femme).
I published this post in French on March 8, 2009, the day that is dedicated to Woman. "Avenue Victoria" is one of the very rare streets of Paris which has the name of a woman.
Avenue Victoria begins at place de l'Hôtel de Ville and finishes a few hundred metres further after place du Châtelet (in the 1st arrondissement).
This name was chosen after the State visit of Queen Victoria when she was welcome by the French Emperor Napoleon III in August 1855.
This had been narated by André Castelot in Historia (a French magazine about History) in August 1995. He wrote :
"On Thursday 23, the day finished by a ball organized in the Hôtel de Ville of Paris [...] Between two dances, arab chiefs were introduced to Queen Victoria. One of them, before the queen could stop him, lifted the Queen's skirt and kissed her calf, screaming "Honni soit qui mal y pense" (the motto of the prestigious order of the Garter). Mérimée (the famous French writer who was there) wrote that the queen didn't scream but she suffered from the difficulty she had in not breaking out in laughter.
In memory of this evening, the city of Paris asked queen Victoria the authorization to give her name to the new avenue which would be created to join place de l'Hôtel de Ville and place du Châtelet. The queen didn't need this hommage to remember this reception. It was impossible for her to forget : the kiss to her calf given by the Arab Cheikh sufficed."
An exhibit was displayed at the Compiegne Palace (80 Km North of Paris) until Januay 19th, 2009. Here is a link to the catalogue of this exhibit.
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