Are the French too prickly about Waterloo?

FRANCOIS HOLLANDE has vetoed Belgium’s proposal for a €2 coin to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo on June 18. This may seem surprising by such a staunch EU supporter, particularly when the Allied victory freed Europe from the tyranny of French dictator Napoleon Bonaparte and led to more than 50 years of peace on the Continent. But the French President feels it would undermine European unity and ‘risk engendering unfavourable reactions in France’. Of course, the real reason for this snub is that Bonaparte was defeated by a largely British force, led by the Duke of Wellington, and, despite centuries of practice, the French are bad losers. The British Government should order the striking of a £2 sterling coin to commemorate the battle. One side could show a charging British grenadier, with a troop of fleeing French cuirassiers on the reverse. That would really irritate the French.

JOHN ENGLAND, Disley, Cheshire. wHY wouldn’t Hollande reject a waterloo coin? It was one of the bloodiest battles of the Napoleonic wars. There were horrific casualties on both sides and at least 24,000 French soldiers died in the havoc, all in the name of Napoleon’s quest for domination. If the U.s. offered Britain a coin commemorating the American Revolution, when thousands of British soldiers died all in the name of their king’s grasp for power, I doubt our PM would give his consent. why celebrate such losses? It’s not that the French can’t cope with the fact they were defeated; they simply choose not to commemorate what their people suffered. Assuming everything went happily ever after when Napoleon was exiled is a naïve view of history. Instead of saying the French should ‘grow up a bit’ about waterloo, perhaps we should. Britain has buildings, streets, bridges, stations and towns named after it: are we obsessed with waterloo?

ERIC CARPENTER, Bath, Somerset.