Ana Maria Sauvalle de Rementeria was born in Valparaiso, Chile. Her father was Chilean and her mother Spanish. Her mother, along with her grandparents had moved from Spain to Paris and then Chile during the Civil war. The Spanish roots were Basque and Madrid. When Ana was 5 the family moved back to Madrid with the family home being in Alfonso XII, in front of the park called the Retiro (like Park Lane in London).
She was educated by the nuns at the Convent school just behind her house. She shone at school, her intelligence already standing out along with her love of learning.She came top in pretty much every subject bar maths. Following completion of her Baccalaureat she studied Russian privately as well doing a History of Art course. She also qualified as a Secretary. Her love of the Basque country and North of Spain grew from spending most summers there in Fuentarrabia or in Comillas in Cantabria.
Her mother’s twin sister had children that very much mirrored her own siblings: Juan Antonio (Jatono), Lola, Maru and Ines whose ages spanned some 10 years. Marie Carmen, the oldest cousin, was pretty much the same age and they were as children best friends. The two of them visited London for a short holiday before Ana took the brave step of deciding to go and live in Paris for a bit to study and enjoy a city, which with Ana’s love of French music, art and literature, had a really special appeal and remained one of her favourite cities for the whole of her life – perhaps her very favourite. It was in Paris that Ana would fatefully meet the man who would be in love and stay with her for the rest of her life.
Diarmid de Burgh-Milne, that’s me, was born an only son in Tarqwa in the Gold Coast now called Ghana. Other than an annual trip by steamer for Christmas to England, that was my home for 5 years where my best friend, well my only friend, was my imagination. On return to London when Ghana became independent, I was sent to the Lycée Francais de Londres where the only language was French. My parents’ marriage was crumbling during this time and after a while the inevitable separation and divorce followed. My mother moved to an island called West Mersea where I learned to sail, a passion that stayed with me. I was then sent to a small Prep school to try and prepare for the Common Entrance exam before going to Harrow school. My father was only prepared to support me at Oxford or Cambridge but my rather more enlightened Housemaster was encouraging me to follow my heart and my heart said I wanted to be free of the Establishment, feeling that either of those universities would simply be an extension of Harrow. I wanted to study French and Philosophy after reading Camus (a combination not available at Oxford or Cambridge). And so it was that I was awarded a University Cadetship by the Army to the University of Leeds and accepted by my chosen Regiment, the Grenadier Guards. This freed me, at least a little, from having to worry about my father’s refusal to offer financial support for university. The course included a year abroad in the third year and for this I chose Paris and the Lycée Michelet.
And so the scene was set for Paris and a magical meeting that would change our lives forever. A boy born in Ghana, an only son, an Englishman with Irish, Scottish and Dutch blood and a strong French influence and a girl born in Chile from a large family, a Spaniard through and through and yet with that exotic South American rhythm, beauty and magic would meet in Paris, and fall in love in our shared language of French. That love affair was to be our life.
A Spanish Girl and Her English Soldier - A Love Beyond Boundaries 