French theme parks operator Puy du Fou has a £600m plan to build a venue close to the M40 in Oxfordshire, UK, and is seeking investment partners, but there is now media speculation about the French company’s credentials.
The Guardian has raised questions about the company’s darker connections and historic ties to Vladimir Putin and the far right.
Gthe De Villiers, the family behind Puy du Fou, hosts as many as 2.8 million visitors to its western France park, but patriarch Philippe de Villiers is into politics and has his own party, the MPF, which has mooted some anti-Islamic proposals as well as strong views on gay marriage.
The newspaper said that Philippe and son Nicolas have even visited Putin in Moscow and proposed building two parks in Russia, just before Putin sent in tanks to occupy the Crimea.
A spokesperson for Puy du Fou has dismissed the talk as "untrue" or "a distortion." Puy du Fou also has a park in Spain.
