before i'd never really given the channel islands a second thought
but a work colleague of mine who originates from brittany swears blind that those islands are french
I suppose if the isle of wight was french we'd have the hump
The islands have never been French.
They were part of the Duchy of Normandy, part of England through the conquest by William the Conquer, Duke of Normandy, in 1066. Eventually 'England', or the English crown lost Normandy, along with other teritories, by NOT the islands at the end of the 100 years war with France.
The Chanel Islands remained a Crown Dependency, ie: under the control of the Crown, but not the English/British government.
Just think of Le Saux and Le Tissier, both born on the Islands, which French sounding names.
It’s never just a simple as saying, ah - these such and such islands are closer to this country so they mush by right belong to them, even an old country like France has never had any control over the Chanel Islands. Not that they are ever trying too!