Statue of Lord Brougham – Cannes’ “Father”

Cannes honors Lord Brougham
Cannes owes a great deal to Lord Henry Brougham—so much so that, on the centenary of his birth, a bronze statue was erected to commemorate his major influence on the city’s development.

Came to Cannes by chance
It was pure coincidence that brought Lord Brougham to the then small, poor fishing village in 1835.

He was on his way to Italy when a cholera outbreak closed the Italian border, forcing him to stay in France.

He sought temporary refuge in the little fishing village of Cannes and fell so in love with the town and its coastline that he settled there permanently.

This marked the beginning of the rapid transformation of Cannes—from a poor 19th-century fishing hamlet into the glamorous global destination it is today.

English building boom
Lord Brougham’s love for Cannes rubbed off on his wealthy compatriots, who also wanted to head south for the mild winters.

That sparked a real building boom, and many of the grand, impressive aristocratic villas that now grace the Riviera were built by the English nobility in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

With the nobility came broader interest among ordinary people to visit Cannes and the Riviera, which in turn fueled significant hotel construction.

The arrival of the palm
Many exotic plants flourished during this boom. From Africa came eucalyptus, from Australia mimosa, and in 1864 the legendary palm tree—Phoenix canariensis—arrived, today a symbol of life on the French Riviera.

By Tommy Sverre / 2021