William, Kate and Harry are 'struggling to find a room' during their official centenary trip to the Somme as the only 5-star hotel is full
They could always try an HeirBNB! William, Kate and Harry are 'struggling to find a room' during their official centenary trip to the Somme as the only 5-star hotel is full
- William, Kate and Harry wanted to stay at exclusive Le Marotte in Amiens
- Hotel said French Foreign Ministry have asked for four suites for royals
- Manager Olivier Walti said dumping customers is 'unthinkable ethically'
- Amiens is completely booked up for Somme centenary starting on June 30
A French five-star hotel has refused to throw out customers so the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry can have their suites this summer, it was revealed today.
Le Hôtel Marotte in Amiens says its would be 'unethical' to cancel existing bookings to make way for the royals when they represent Britain at the Battle of the Somme centenary in France.
William, Kate and Harry and their aides are said to have requested two nights in four suites, which cost up to £350-a-night, at the only five-star hotel in the area around the battlefields.
Official visit: The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry are representing Britain at the 2016 centenary of the Battle of the Somme but a luxury hotel says it cannot let them stay
Grand: Le Marotte, pictured, is the only five-star hotel in Amiens but it says it would be 'unethical' to cancel existing bookings to make way for the royals
Hotel manager Olivier Walti has said that the French Foreign Ministry has been in touch about securing the suites.
Local media in France have said that the royals may be forced to try Airbnb because of the lack of luxury accommodation in Amiens, which has largely three and four-star hotels.
Mr Walti said: 'The Foreign Ministry has contacted us in January to see if we were able to accommodate the royal family on the occasion of the Somme commemorations. We had to decline the offer, it is impossible, we are already booked solid.
'We would not tell people who have booked with us for months and who have already paid for their stay, sorry, but the royal family is coming, we will have to cancel. It's just unthinkable ethically', he told local newspaper the Courrier Picard.
Estelle Walti, the manager of the Marmotte Hotel in Amiens, which she runs with husband, Olivier, today told Mail Online that the French Foreign Ministry approached them in January.
Referring to the Ministry as the Quai d'Orsay – its address in central Paris – Ms Walti said: ‘The Quai d’Orsay wanted to know if we had rooms.
‘We’ve been booked up for this period for a month, so unfortunately we couldn’t help them. It’s not because we didn’t want the Royals here – it’s just that we weren’t going to let other customers down.’
The hotel, which has previously had royalty and stars like Lenny Kravitz as guests, has suites that can hold a family of four, have freestanding stone baths and even private, sound-proofed saunas.
Asked about the hotel’s five stars, Ms Walti said: ‘We are an officially recognised five star establishment’. She said two heads of states had stayed recently, but could not say who ‘for security reasons.’
Le Marotte technically has a no-children policy because of the lack of room for extra beds, but it is not known if they would have made an exception for Prince George and Princess Charlotte if they also go to France this summer.
Amiens' hotels have been booked by people from all over the world up to a year in advance.
Royals, dignitaries and relatives of those who died in the 1916 battle will be heading to the French city 80 miles north of Paris on June 30 and July 1.
But with no rooms available the royals are still struggling to find anywhere suitable to stay, locals sources have said.
Luxurious: Suites at Le Marotte have freestanding stone baths like this one and even their own saunas
Slaughter across No Man's Land: British armed forces lost 20,000 men on the first day of the Somme, which started 100 years ago this summer
According to Tripadvisor there are no free rooms in the town at all over the two nights they need, meaning they may need to rent a house or be handed accommodation by the French government.
William, Kate and Harry are attending the Somme 2016 commemorative events in France as the younger members of the royal family take on more responsibilities from the Queen.
On June 30 the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh will attend an evening vigil at Westminster Abbey to mark the eve of the start of the battle in 1916.
In France Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall will attend commemorative events in France on July 1.
The Duke and Duchess and Cambridge and Prince Harry will represent the royal family at events on June 30 and July 1, hence the need for two nights in Amiens.
The Somme offensive was part of a coordinated effort by Britain and France to achieve a decisive breakthrough on the Western Front - but became one of the bloodiest battles in history.
Big event: French President Francois Hollande, Director General of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) Victoria Wallace and Prime Minister David Cameron in Amiens this week for talks
Its aim was to capture the high ground astride the river Somme and its tributary, the Ancre, in northern France.
The theory was that a breakthrough on the Somme would allow the Allies to 'roll up' the entire German line.
Instead, July 1 saw the British army suffer the heaviest single day of casualties in its history. The battle lasted until November and controversy over what the battle achieved burns to this day.
About 1.1 million British and Commonwealth troops died in the war . But at the Somme alone, British and Commonwealth forces were calculated to have lost 419,654.
A Kensington Palace spokesman said: 'The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry will attend commemorative events in France on June 30 and July 1. This is an important commemoration and they are honoured to be taking part on behalf of The Queen and the Government.
A source added on the choice of hotel: 'There has been no direct contact from the royal household - arrangements for this visit are a matter for the Government'.
