From the Blog for "Regular Joe," an NBC TV show I think.(?)
[quote] The united union of France and Britain? (Kellyanne Dignan, "Scarborough Country" producer)
Viva la Britain? Not a phrase that's exactly sweeping the streets of Paris or London for that matter; but according to the BBC it was almost a reality. Recently uncovered secret British government documents from the 1950's show Britain and France considered a "union" in the 1950's. ... While I doubt the world was ever that close to "Britance" or "Fratain;" the documents show the French Prime Minister suggested a merger with Britain in 1956. Shock of shocks, the Brits put on their stiff upper lip and rejected the idea. The French Prime Minister then proposed admitting France into the British Commonwealth with the British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, as head of state. I can only imagine the medieval Norman ancestors turning in their graves. Today's Brits are filling the message boards at London's Telegraph with their own take on the long forgotten merger. The consensus seems to be it wasn't such a hot idea.
That said, an Anglo-French union isn't exactly new. The International Herald Tribune dug up examples of British interest in France including a World War II appeal in June of 1940 by Winston Churchill for a full union of the two countries.
So how close did the French come to singing "God Save the Queen"? The French proposed the merger while they were having troubles with the Suez Canal; and tensions in Israel and Jordan could have led to British and French soldiers facing each other on the battlefield. France went on to join the European Union's predecessor, the Common Market and; apparently kept no records of the proposed merger.
The rest, as they say, is history. [endquote]
But would combining the Gross Domestic Product of Britain and France catch up with the Chinese?