A French theme park tycoon with ties to the Kremlin is behind plans for a £600 million attraction hoping to be set up near Oxford. Puy du Fou, which runs medieval-themed parks in France and Spain, plans to expand with a 400-acre site in Cherwell, north of Bicester. A consultation on the plans was launched last month.
The first park, founded in 1978 in Vendee in western France, prides itself on its 'multitude of spectacular shows' with falconry, sword fights and jousting. Instead of rides, it focuses on re-enactments and spectacles including Roman chariot racing and Viking battles. But the park's controlling family are likely to raise eyebrows in sleepy Oxfordshire due to the founder's links to Russia and the far-right.
Philippe de Villiers previously defended plans for the company to build a theme park in Crimea after the Ukrainian territory was annexed by Russia in 2014. Shortly after the invasion, de Villiers, 75, met Russian president Vladimir Putin in the Crimean seaside resort of Yalta and praised him for having 'grand vision and charisma'.
Day out with a difference: The first park, founded in 1978 in Vendee in western France, prides itself on its 'multitude of spectacular shows' with falconry, sword fights and jousting. He also accused the European Union of imposing a 'reign of terror' after it slapped sanctions on de Villiers' Russian business partner Konstantin Malofeev.
Malofeev, 50, is a close Putin ally and oligarch who through his media network Tsargrad has promoted a return to Russia's imperial past. He has also been accused by the EU and US of financing pro-Russian separatist movements in Eastern Ukraine. At the time, de Villiers said the sanctions had been imposed on Malofeev for 'declaring his love of Russia'.
Closer to home, the Frenchman is a prominent figure on the right, having previously served as culture secretary in the cabinet of President François Mitterrand. A French nationalist, staunch Catholic and Eurosceptic, de Villiers gained international attention for his strong criticism of the growth of Islam in France as well as leading a campaign to scrap the euro and re-adopt the Franc as the national currency.
In 2022, he supported Éric Zemmour, a far-right politician, in the French presidential election, having run for the post twice himself in 1995 and 2007. The de Villiers family still leads Puy du Fou's parent company, with Philippe's son Nicolas currently serving as its president.
De Villiers' opponents have previously accused the tycoon of using his theme park empire to promote his conservative beliefs. In 2023, a book published by several academics accused Puy du Fou of rewriting French history, with one author saying it was 'distorting the past'.
