As her former classmate, there are many things that spring to mind when I think of Veronique Delhomme, daughter of the remarkable Dr Stevenson-Delhomme, Seychelles’ first lady politician and first lady doctor. 

Not least is the fact she was and still is strikingly beautiful at 59, with her extra long black hair and despite her elite background, very outgoing.

It had been 10 years since we last met in Mahé and sitting at the Pirates Arms Restaurant we recalled old times and she was genuinely interested to know how all other former classmates were doing.

Veronique is the first girl to attend the Seychelles College – from Form IV – at a time when schools were strictly segregated. Her dad, Andre Delhomme, owned two islands and she was also the first Seychelloise to meet the pope.

An exception was made for Veronique to attend the Seychelles College because she had decided on a career in medicine and subjects like physics, chemistry and biology were at the time not taught at the Regina Mundi Convent (for girls only).

Her elder sister, Helene, also attended the college, but since she had decided to study law, she joined for A-levels, i.e. in Form V1.

Ironically, the two girls were to swop as Veronique performed badly in both physics and chemistry, the head teacher, Brother Adrienne Frenette, told her: “Forget about being a doctor.”

Her sister also had her hopes of becoming a lawyer dashed when she performed better at the sciences.
Veronique grew up at St Louis at the ‘Villa des Roses’, now the site of the Chinese Embassy.

Her father was the first French Consul of Seychelles. At a time when British colonial influence still ran strong, he was one of the founder members of Alliance Française and was the owner of two islands – Coetivy and Desroches.

Her mum, the formidable Dr Hilda Stevenson-Delhomme, has so many achievements going for her that only a good biography can do her justice. To this day, a road at St Louis, close to her former residence, is named after her.

Meeting Pope Paul V1

In 1969, two years after joining the Seychelles College, Veronique and Helene were informed by their parents they would be going to Italy to meet Pope Paul V1. According to Veronique, the visit was arranged months before by the British Embassy in Nairobi, though it is obvious that the Governor must have been privy to the secret.

The girls were urged to learn Italian so as to be able to converse with the Pontiff and lessons were dispensed by Father Modeste, a Swiss priest close to the family.

As the great day approached, they travelled to Mombasa, Kenya and flew to Rome where Vatican bishops informed them Ms Delhomme was to dress in black and the children in pale colours as the Pope himself would be in white. They were accompanied for the occasion by two children living with the Delhomme family – Alain and Caroline Hoareau – still toddlers. Austere Vatican officials also insisted Veronique covers her lovely hair.

The Pope’s prelate informed them the meeting would be at the Chateau Castel Gondolfo – his summer residence. A limousine took the family there, where they waited in a room. Then, in came Pope Paul V1.

To everyone’s surprise, he exclaimed: “Oh Madame, mais quelle joie” in impeccable French, recalls Veronique. The Pope kept the conversation in French and wanted to know about Seychelles and the Church there.

Veronique also recalls Pope Paul VI saying he had heard Madame Delhomme was somehow involved in politics and several charities and wanted to know how she was doing in these fields.

“He asked each of us our names and at the end of the meeting gave our parents rosaries, and each of us key-rings with the Papal seal. He also asked every one of us to say three Hail Marys for him each day, which for a while I did.”

Veronique recalls Pope Paul V1 was not a polyglot and globe-trotter like the charismatic John Paul II, who was the first Pontiff to step outside Europe when he visited Uganda – obviously before the notorious Idi Amin Dada came to power.

Still on religion, Veronique recalls as a young girl of four, she met Archbishop Makarios of Cyprus, exiled here by the British in 1956. It appears that initially Makarios and his entourage were to be kept at ‘La Bastille’ at Pointe Conan.

When somebody at Government House pointed out it was too close to the sea and the Cypriots could make an escape bid by boat, Ms Delhomme stepped in and suggested the house at Sans Soucis with superb mountain views, also overlooking the inner islands. Makarios stayed there for over a year and grew fond of the place.

On Coetivy and Desroches

Veronique recalls that besides hundreds of tons of copra, the islands then produced, her dad brought horses and donkeys there, where some reproduced and roamed wild.

If Coetivy was considered Helene’s island, Veronique always considered Desroches as special. “There was this little volcanic wonder called Miray Bondye. Cotton plants also grew abundantly.

Today, Veronique fondly notes that Desroches is an island that has been developed for what it was supposed to, which is tourism. She adds it speaks volumes for Desroches that the royal couple – Prince William and Kate – vacationed there and would probably have honeymooned there too had it not been for the terrible menace posed by the Somali pirates.

After her schooling in Mahe, Veronique studied law in Paris where she obtained a Licence des droits and became a lawyer and notary – a profession which she practiced until very recently. She has three children by her first marriage – a son Jean, today a prosperous currency trader in London, and two daughters Phedora and Olivia.

Sadly her husband died in a motor accident in 1985 and many years later, she married a second time – this time to Briton Neville Maryan-Green, several years her senior. Mr Maryan-Green is also a lawyer and notary who is also very well versed in international law and can certainly convince anyone why the euro is not about to disintegrate. But that would necessitate another article…

I had nearly forgotten to state that because of someone she met during Makarios’ exile here that Veronique still maintains strong links with Greece. En famille she holidays on an Aegean island every summer.

But now that she is a partner in the apartment block ‘Stevenson & Poll’ just completed at Le Chantier, she plans to vacation in Mahe at least once yearly, which is why she has reserved the top flat which commands a splendid view of the islands of the Ste Anne Marine Park.

Forrás: www.nation.sc