Plans to rename ‘France’s most British airport’ in honour of the late Queen Elizabeth II have been blasted by the French public.

The mayor of the seaside town of Touquet-Paris-Plage in northern France announced just days after the Queen’s death on 8 September that he would propose the change to the town council at the next meeting.

Daniel Fasquelle said in a tweet that he wanted to add the name of Elizabeth II to the airport to mark the strong connection between Britain and France.

The airport issued a statement which read: “In order to pay tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and in memory of her visit to Le Touquet with her uncle Edward VIII, during which she practised both horse riding and sand yachting, the town of Le Touquet-Paris-Plage wishes to name its airport after her, who, for 70 years, served her country with commitment, respect and constancy.”

The airport said it would be renamed Aéroport international Le Touquet-Paris-Plage Elizabeth II from 14 October.

However, many French people slammed the decision, saying it was ‘absurd’, ‘a joke’ and ‘embarrassing’.

Responding on Twitter, some suggested that it would be better to rename the airport after the UK’s wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill, or Ukraine President Zelensky.

One person said: “Touquet is not an annexe of London,” another said the UK was ‘the enemy of France’, while another pointed out the irony of a republic that he beheaded its own monarch naming an airport after a foreign queen.