Something is amiss when in Malta we talk of ‘The French’. It is clear that we are referring to their two years’ rapacious and insensitive revolutionary occupation of our islands between 1798-1800.

However, one must also bear in mind that two-thirds of our Knights Hospitallers of the Order of St John were French, and here we are talking of French conservatives and normally good Catholics for over 250 years, not revolutionary atheists, as in Napoleon’s time.

The French Knights of St John were in Malta between 1530 and 1798, and at least eight Grand Masters of Malta were French. In the 16th century, Malta’s main influence was Spanish. In the 18th century, it was undoubtedly French.

This is why the President’s Palace in Valletta features, in the Ambassadors’ Room, portraits of kings Louis XIV, Louis XV, and Louis XVI of France (who ruled between 1643 and 1792).