British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's father, Stanley Johnson, became a French citizen to maintain his ties to the EU.British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's father, Stanley Johnson, became a French citizen to maintain his ties to the EU.
Speaking to Belgian news site BFMTV, Stanley Johnson said he took this decision to preserve his ties with the European Union after Brexit.
The Prime Minister's Office described Stanley Johnson's decision to accept French citizenship as a "personal decision".
Stanley Johnson, 81, announced that he would apply for French citizenship in December 2020, a month before the UK leaves the EU.
The French Ministry of Justice confirmed that Johnson's application, filed on November 18, 2021, was accepted on Wednesday.
Saying he is "very happy" on Friday, Stanley Johnson said: "I see myself as an EU member once again, that's very good."
He stated that his grandmother and his entire family were French and continued:
"So getting back a piece of my identity is something very precious to me."
Normally, under French law, a child of a French citizen family cannot acquire French nationality if the family has lived outside France for more than 50 years without exercising their citizenship rights.
However, the French Ministry of Justice said Johnson's entitlement to French citizenship applies under the exemption granted to those who can prove their affiliation with the country for "cultural, professional, economic or family reasons".
The ministry also stated that the citizenship in question was granted only to him, and that it does not include family members.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson led the UK's exit from the EU, also known as Brexit.
Stanley Johnson, whose mother is a Frenchman, voted "no" in the 2016 Brexit referendum, unlike his son.
However, Stanley Johnson later changed his mind, saying it was "time to get rid of the EU".
Stanley Johnson, the grandson of the murdered Ottoman Empire's last Minister of Internal Affairs (Interior Minister) Ali Kemal, served as a deputy in the European Parliament between 1979-1984.
After Brexit, there has been an increase in the acquisition of citizenship of another EU country by UK citizens.
In 2015, 1,826 UK citizens obtained EU citizenship, this number increased to 13,141 in 2017.