The NORMANDY: Paris

May 9, 2000

The Illustrious St. Leger Family Celebrates its Millenium at Eu

Some three hundred descendants of Robert de Saint Leger , companion of William the Conqueror, will meet on Saturday at Eu. Being around the globe, they rediscovered each other by means of the Internet.

Three hundred seated invitees: if all the de Saint Legers of the world respond to the invitation of the French branch of this illustrious family, the banquet organized in the park of the Joinville pavillion should produce a lovely cliché- at the time of the family photo. It is Dominique de Saint Leger, of Savoie, who had the idea of organizing this reunion. It was not easy to find the addresses for this invitation. Since the invasion of England in 1066, there are at least five hundred Saint Legers in the Anglo-Saxon world. There are Saint Legers in Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, the U.S.A., South Africa, the U.K. and France. And many do not know each other.

While hundreds of riders would have been dispatched at the time of the illustrious ancestor, Robert de Saint Leger, the Internet today facilitates much. Each Saint Leger, anywhere in the world, could register himself in the Saint Leger family directory and thus reserve a place for him/herself for the millenium celebration.

A Game of Sioule

The diaspora therefore will meet at Eu, Saturday, May 13. The royal town, without hesitation, shared in this equally royal manifestation. "Pomp and Seduction" oblige. The "de Saint Leger is an old Norman family related , it seems, to the Count of Eu. Many villages in the region carry that name in the likeness of Saint-Leger-aux-Bois", says Francois Gouet, the mayor of the town of Eu.

"The de Saint Leger family chose Eu to hold its reunion because it is the closest historical town capable of holding all these people on such an occasion," explains the Director of the Tourism Office.

Main events of the de Saint Leger family millenium reunion : Reception in the chateau of Eu as of 9h:30 a.m., church service a the collegiale at 10h:00 a.m., wine in honor of the occasion at noon, lunch at 13h:30 p.m., and entertainment in the park of the chateau after lunch with a match of sioule (as in the Middle Ages, the sioule being the ancestor of rugby) .

The inhabitants of Eu are not invited to any of these receptions and private ceremonies, except to the inauguration of the passage located behind the collegiale, between the Plaza Saint-Laurent O'Toole and the Plaza William the Conqueror. The "passage " will receive the name of Robert de Saint Leger.

A Bit of History

In 1066, Robert de Saint Leger, goes to the conquest of England. His personality marks the beginning of the saga of a rich and illustrious family during centuries. Born at the beginning of the second millenium, , he held in fiefdom lands belonging to the Count of Eu.

In Normandy, the de Saint Legers held the low forest of Eu, while in England, they divided the forest of Dallington with the Counts of Eu.

In the XII, the century, Thomas de Saint Leger joins the Abbey of Notre Dame of Eu where his companion was Saint Laurent O'Toole. He signs the Treaty of Picquigny with Louis XI. He died after giving to the Abbey his church of Saint-Leger-aux-Bois. Sir Anthony de Saint Leger, Knight of the Garter, brings peace to Ireland under Henry VIII and Edward VI. In 1766, the Major General, Sir Anthony de Saint Leger, enamoured of horse racing, created the famous Saint Leger Derby.

F.W.

F.W.