In 1903, King Edward VII journeyed to Paris. Crowds lining the streets on his arrival made clear that he was not welcome. But he maintained an imperturbable demeanour during the ride to the Elysée palace and for the duration of his 96-hour visit. In The Guns of August, Barbara Tuchman reports that the king charmed the French without let-up. “Everywhere he made gracious and tactful speeches about his friendship and admiration for the French, their ‘glorious traditions’, their ‘beautiful city’, his ‘sincere pleasure’ in his visit, his belief that old misunderstandings are ‘happily over and forgotten’” – and all in perfect French.
1903年，英王愛德華七世(King Edward VII)出訪巴黎。在他抵達時，街道兩側(cè)圍觀民眾的態(tài)度明確表明，他在這里不受歡迎。但英王在前往愛麗舍宮途中以及在長達96小時的訪法期間，始終保持著泰然自若的風(fēng)度。芭芭拉?塔奇曼(Barbara Tuchman)在《八月炮火》(The Guns of August)一書中記述道，愛德華七世片刻不停的施展魅力，迷倒了法國人。“在他所到的每處地方，他都發(fā)表了親切而機敏的講話，表達了對法國人的友好和欽佩之情，談到法國的‘光榮傳統(tǒng)’和‘美麗城市’，稱自己在訪問期間感到‘由衷的快樂’，還表示相信英法兩國已經(jīng)‘一笑泯恩仇’”；而且，他是用嫻熟的法語發(fā)表這些講話的。