Plan to close public beach when King Salman and his 500-strong retinue stay at Riviera villa in Vallauris stirs republican passions
The famously golden beaches and azure blue seas of the French Riviera are proving to be the rocky point where republican ideals meet realpolitik. When a Saudi royal and his 500-strong retinue want to close a stretch of seafront on the Côte d’Azur, the locals can shout “liberté, égalité, fraternité” all they want – the beach is closed. Bathers at La Mirandole – a narrow sliver of rocks and sands at Vallauris six miles from Cannes – have been told the area will be sealed off any day now on the arrival of King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the grounds of whose mansion stretch along a kilometre of coastline. French officials also plan a 300-metre exclusion zone out to sea.
