Johnson Sr was given a French/EU passport after he applied for citizenship in January 2021.
According to various media across the continent, including the Italian newspaper La Stampa, the procedure to obtain French citizenship has ended and Stanley Johnson has been confirmed as an EU national.
Johnson Sr, who worked for the European project in Brussels in the past, reportedly said: “I will always be European.”
Stanley J certainly has a European pedigree.
Johnson’s maternal grandmother’s parents were Hubert Freiherr von Pfeffel (born in Munich in the Kingdom of Bavaria on 8 December 1843) and his wife Hélène Arnous-Rivière (born on 14 January 1862). Hubert von Pfeffel was the son of Karl Freiherr von Pfeffel (born in Dresden in the Kingdom of Saxony on 22 November 1811; died in Munich on 25 January 1890) by his marriage in Augsburg on 16 February 1836 to Karolina von Rothenburg (born in the Free City of Frankfurt on 28 November 1805; died in Frankfurt on 13 February 1872), herself said to be the illegitimate daughter of Prince Paul of Württemberg by Friederike Porth.
Stanley Johnson was born in 1940 in Penzance, Cornwall, the son of Osman Kemal (later known as Wilfred Johnson) and Irene Williams (daughter of Stanley Fred Williams of Bromley, Kent, who was the grandson of Sir George Williams, and Marie Louise de Pfeffel). His paternal grandfather, Ali Kemal Bey, one of the last interior ministers of the Ottoman government, was assassinated in 1922 during the Turkish War of Independence. Stanley’s father was born in 1909 in Bournemouth, and his birth was registered as Osman Ali Wilfred Kemal. Osman’s Anglo-Swiss mother Winifred Brun died shortly after giving birth. Ali Kemal returned to the Ottoman Empire in 1912, whereafter Osman Wilfred and his sister Selma were brought up by their English grandmother, Margaret Brun, and took her maiden name, Johnson, Stanley’s father thus becoming Wilfred Johnson.
The timing is remarkable as Boris Johnson announced on Tuesday that his Government intends to introduce legislation “in the coming weeks to make changes in the [Northern Ireland] protocol”.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss told the Commons two days ago: “As the Prime Minister said, our shared objective has to be to find a solution that commands the broadest possible cross-community support for years to come and protect the Belfast Good Friday Agreement in all its dimensions.
The Bill will include “new measures” to protect the EU single market, including “robust penalties” for those who seek to “abuse the new system”, Truss said.
She told the Commons: “The Bill will provide the Government with the ability to decide on tax and spend policies across the whole of the United Kingdom. It will address issues related to governance bringing the protocol in line with international laws.
Any national of an EU Member State is considered to be a citizen of the EU. EU citizenship does not replace national citizenship: it is an addition to it. Citizenship gives them the right to:
move and take up residence anywhere in the EU;
vote and stand in local government and European Parliament elections in their country of residence;
diplomatic and consular protection outside the EU from the authorities of any Member State if their own country of nationality is not represented;
petition the European Parliament and appeal to the European Ombudsman;
address the European institutions in any of its official languages and receive a reply in the same language;
non-discrimination on the basis of nationality;
invite the Commission to submit a legislative proposal (citizens’ initiative);
access EU institutions’ and bodies’ documents, subject to certain conditions (Article 15 of the TFEU).
All EU citizens have equal access to the EU Civil Service.
I guess that, while SJ is going IN, BJ is still trying to get us OUT …
Lucky Stanley - he got EU citizenship by filiation.
Post-Brexit was the first time I wished I had some European family links or had been born in Northern Ireland. I would certainly have been taking advantage of having the right to EU citizenship or Irish citizenship, as well as British citizenship.
Sadly, under British Citizenship, we have onerous travel restrictions, so we have decided to sell our boat in the Med - being able to stay in Schengen area for only 90 days in any 180 days is not long enough for having a boat there to be viable.
Ooh, he has a Villa in Greece - I’m even more envious now!
That is where I want to spend my Spring and Summers.
Actually, if Stanley has owned a property in Greece for a while and it’s worth over €250,000, he would probably have been able to claim a Residency Visa that way, if he hadn’t already been able to claim via his filiation to France.
Launched in July 2013 the Greek golden visa programme grants a five year residency visa in return for an investment in real estate. There is no minimum stay requirement and children up to the age of 21 are included in the family application. The visa is granted for five years and renewed every five years if the property investment is retained. It is not necessary to live in the country in order to retain and renew the investor visa. However citizenship can only be granted after seven years of residency.
It may amuse some Brits to think that way but it’s more likely that Stanley’s application was approved based on the historic principle of “Jus sanguinis” - embedded into French Law long before Brexit was even a twinkle in Farage’s eye.
I haven’t personally researched his family tree but I presume the French authorities have checked his claims.
I just based my comment on what Stanley Johnson himself has said
“My mother was born in France, her mother was completely French as was her grandfather.”
Stanley Johnson was born in 1940 in Penzance, Cornwall, the son of Osman Kemal (later known as Wilfred Johnson) and Irene Williams (daughter of Stanley Fred Williams of Bromley, Kent, who was the grandson of Sir George Williams, and Marie Louise de Pfeffel).
I assumed that the English names meant English birth but:
France’s justice ministry confirmed that Stanley Johnson’s mother, Irene Williams, was born in Versailles
So Stanley Johnson has all the rights of mobility and residence in Europe that his son Boris has denied to most of the British population . As his son, Boris will also be able to claim French citizenship and get the same .
Ever feel you have been hoodwinked?
