Liberte, Egalite, Nationalite

In January 2017, writer Mark Sampson shared his experiences of applying for French citizenship. Having now officially acquired la nationalité française, he explains the final stages of the process

- Mark Sampson

When I awoke on the morning of my birthday this year, it was the first time I’d ever woken up as an official French citizen. Just over a year since submitting our dossiers at the Bureau de la Naturalisation in Toulouse. “Do you realise,” my wife pointed out, “we’ve changed the course of our family history?”

It’s true. The family that arrives every August to occupy the old house hidden below us are Parisians by the name of Platt. Lawrence, who retains the British spelling of his first name, can barely speak a word of English, yet his grandfather was a fully fledged Brit. I wondered whether future generations, poring over the Sampson family tree, would point to a greatgreat-grandfather who was half-French. Apparently, he could sing La Marseillaise.

Which is no mean feat. The day before my birthday was the day of my... what, my investiture? Our main preparation for the big occasion involved learning by heart the words of the first verse and chorus of our new national anthem – and, more to the point, learning to sing them. The gory words – about rousing the citizens to spill the murderous enemy’s blood in defence of the fatherland – do not scan easily.

With all the obtuse rhythms, one has to elongate the syllables to fit the music as if the words were Italian rather than French. The idea of Premiership footballers bellowing out the refrain as a mark of solidarity following the Charlie Hebdo massacre... it makes you wonder!

Being a former actress, my wife is well-versed in learning lines. So when we travelled south to the Espace Culturel at Arcambal, just east of our préfecture of Cahors, she drilled us both like the ‘very model of a modern Major General’ until we were word perfect. We could sing it with our eyes closed while doing a handstand, if absolutely necessary.