Fort Adelaide - Royal Cypher at the gate

The Royal Cypher is the personal device or monogram of Her Majesty The Queen (EII refers to Elizabeth II and R is for Regina, meaning Queen). Here, at Fort Adelaide guess we have WR and ER which stands for William and Victoria Regina, indeed it is in the description of this fort's history. Opinions differ on the purpose of this fortress, known as the Citadelle or Fort Adelaide. One school of thought favours the need for fortifications to defend Port Louis and points to the remains of the citadel built in 1743, by the French Governor Antoine Marie Desforges Boucher. Another stresses the absence of any war against the British Empire in the 19th century, in the Indian Ocean. It focuses on the concerns of 1,300 English civil servants who needed shelter from the anger of 8,000 French settlers' descendants. This was caused by the anglicization of the old Ile de France and the abolitionist trends of their adversaries. The latter imposed on them the emancipation of their 65,000 slaves on 1 February 1835. The construction of Fort Adelaide, in honour of the wife of the King of England, William IV (1765-1837), started on 11 November 1830. The foundation stone was laid on 8 December 1834 and the works ended on4 November 1840. It cost £45,354, against an initial provision of £30,000. Fort Adelaide was virtually never used except to accommodate a meagre garrison from time to time. The liberation of slaves took place peacefully and the sugar industry replaced them with agricultural workers recruited in India. The Citadelle gradually fell into oblivion. It was the scene of an awful crime in October 1951 (the murder of two children). It is periodically renovated and sometimes houses exhibitions and open-air shows.