Anniversary of tour route to site of tragic incident
THIS year marks the 21st anniversary of the start of the Route of the Prince Imperial, Louis Napoleon, a bold tourism initiative that follows the scenic pilgrimage through KwaZulu-Natal, taken by a mother in mourning as she traced his footsteps.
A year after the prince was killed in an ambush at uQweque, near Nqutu, on June 1, 1879, his mother, the Empress Eugénie, who had followed the route he had taken during the Anglo-Zulu War, spent the night in vigil at the very spot where he lost his life. It is now marked as a monument to him.
Now, 138 years later, that monument plays an important role driving a small, but vital tourism injection into the uQweqwe community.
The Alliance Francaise, Pietermaritzburg, and the French Presence in the KwaZulu-Natal Cultural Tourism Research Development Project have now begun a programme of activities with a number of partners. Both associations play a valuable networking function in connecting France, Reunion Island and other Francophone countries with South Africa.
Yesterday, the Pietermaritzburg Amateur Music Society set the tone for French week with its Musique Sacrée concert of French Sacred music at the Lutheran Church in Hayfields.
Then, at the Midlands Amble, a Sunday gathering at Albert Falls next week, there will be a commemoration of the first night’s “camp” of the Empress Eugénie, when she rested on her sorrowful pilgrimage.
On Monday, May 28, a guided visit to the Msunduzi Museum will see a programme of school activities that include a history presentation on the Anglo-Zulu War.
Wines named after the Empress Eugénie and the Prince Imperial, produced by Domaine des Dieux of the Himmel-enAarde Valley in Hermanus, are celebrated during this week.
On Africa Day, May 31, at 1pm, the annual Prince Imperial lunchtime concert will take place at The Old Prison, Project Gateway, in Pietermaritzburg.
It will feature the Sobantu School Choir, the Sobantu a capella group, dance performers from Chistlehurst Arts and Academics, as well as the Impisi Emnyama Zulu dancers, and Exquiniqué Fashion that will present its own unique brand.
Dr Andrew-John Bethke will be giving a special anniversary organ recital at 7pm in the Lutheran Church, Hayfields, on Thursday, June 1, the commemoration day of the Prince’s death and the anniversary day of the route.
The next day, the Embassy of France, the French Institute, the Alliance and the Napoleon Foundation, Paris, present a concert at the Tatham Art Gallery to celebrate local talent and welcome the Ambassador of France, Christophe Farnaud, and other international guests.
The evening starts with the launch of the publication by Otterley Press of The French Prince: Tragedy to Transform- ation, by Glenn Flanagan, followed by the award ceremony of Les Palmes Académiques to Heather Peel, head of French at Hilton College, for her contribution to the teaching of French.
A concert follows, featuring Sandile Mabaso, a celebrated KZN opera singer, the Sobantu Secondary School isiscathamiya performers, the Impisi Emnyama Zulu Dancers and the Chistlehurst Academics and Arts Dance group, which promise a finale with great French flair.
A memorial mass will be celebrated on June 3 at 9.30am at the Allard House Chapel, KZN’s first Roman Catholic Church, built in 1852.
Dignitaries will then depart for Dundee along the Prince Imperial Route, pausing for tea with the French Augustinian Sisters in Pomeroy and culminating in a French soirée at Elisabeth Durham’s Chez Nous B-’n’-B in Dundee.
At the soirée, the convener and project leader of the route, Flanagan, will present a visual résumé of highlights of the past 21 years of the route’s development.
The next day, the delegation will visit the Jojosini Primary School, where the monument is situated, to commemorate the 138th anniversary of the death of the prince.
The Ambassador of France will lay a wreath at the memorial; Inkosi Mdlalose and Induna Mbatha will lay wreaths on the tombs of Trooper Abel and Trooper Rogers – and Gugu Buthelezi, a voluntary site guide, will lay a wreath for the nameless Zulu guide killed in the same ambush, on June 1, 1879.
For the full programme, go to the Facebook page: French Presence in KZN: La Route du Prince Impérial, Louis Napoléon.