The heir to the British throne had been invited to be the keynote speaker at Harvard University’s 350th anniversary party. He was surprised that Massachusetts which wasn’t ‘too certain about the supposed benefits of royalty’ should even have invited someone like him, someone as one American paper put it ‘as appallingly undemocratic as the Prince of Wales.’

As the slight figure entered the hall the band struck up the ‘Dream the impossible dream’ tune from ‘the Man of La Mancha’. It was a moving moment as a retiring housewife who had taken night classes returned to her alma mater, Boston University, to receive an honorary doctorate as President Aquino of the Philippines.

He was asked by Frank Buchman “When did you steal last?’

Let us hope that the festivities around the Statue of Liberty, itself a gift to symbolize Franco-American friendship, will have reminded us that France is not only the oldest but the strongest ally of the United States.

Much of what we associate with the new Europe and the unguarded bridges across the Rhine is inseparable from the name of a great European, a great Frenchman, Robert Schuman.