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Show ec-- English Kings Buried in France. Negotiations are in progress between the English, and the French governments govern-ments with the object of the transfer to Great Britain of the remains of the English king, Henry II. of King Richard Rich-ard Cocur de Lion and of his queen, Eleanor, and of Queen Isabella, the consort of King John, all of whom are entombed in the abbey church of Fon-tevrault. Fon-tevrault. The church is no longer used for divine worship, but as a prison, the nave having been converted into four floors of dormitories. The tombs, surmounted by the reeum-' bent effigies of the five royal personages person-ages in question, and which have been subjected to a good many indignities, notably at the time of the great revolution, revo-lution, have already on two previous occasions been asked of the French government by England. In 1817 that is to say, two years after the battle of Waterloo King George IV, then prince regent, was informed by the French government, in reply to a request for the tombs, that the authorities of the department .of Maine et Loire did not care to part with them. Later on, in 1848, King Louis Phillippe offered them to Queen Victoria, and they were about to be removed to England Eng-land when the revolution broke out, which drove King Louis Philippe and his family into English exile. Once more have negotiations been in progress, and the French government has, it is understood, arranged to present pre-sent these tombs of his ancestors to King Edward VII. who will find a fitting fit-ting resting place for them in Westminster West-minster abbey. Perhaps in course of time King Edward may likewise be successful suc-cessful In obtaining from the French government the tomb and the remains of King William the -Conqueror, which, as every American tourist in Normandy knows, are one of the principal features of interest at Caen. Aside from the fact that these tombs of English kings in France attract tourists, tour-ists, and are therefore a source of some profit to the localities in which they are situated, it is difficult to understand what value a republic such as France can possibly attach to the tombs of foreign monarchs on its soil, and it cannot be denied that it would be more appropriate that these 700 year old stone monuments of royalty should rest in the ancient abbey of Westminster among the other kings and -queens of England than in a building in France now used as a jail for criminals. |