Cover A hand-drawn draft of ‘The Little Prince’ by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (Photo: courtesy of Alliance Française de Hong Kong and the University Museum and Art Gallery)
A hand-drawn draft of ‘The Little Prince’ by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (Photo: courtesy of Alliance Française de Hong Kong and the University Museum and Art Gallery)
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Opened this month, ‘The Little Prince’ exhibition at the University of Hong Kong brings rare archival documents, original manuscripts, and a miraculous wartime relic to life for generations of fans
The whimsical adventures of The Little Prince, who journeys from his tiny asteroid to Earth and befriends the wise fox and the pilot, have mesmerised generations of readers across the globe. The classic story of the pilot’s plane crash in the Sahara Desert—inspired by creator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s own real-world plane crash in 1935, which he miraculously survived—and whimsical illustrations like the shape of a boa constrictor having swallowed an entire elephant compared to an ordinary hat, have long inspired reflections on childhood innocence, friendship, love and loss.
Yet, none of the written chapters was quite as bizarre as the legendary French aviator and author’s own mysterious real-life disappearance. On July 31, 1944, Saint-Exupéry was embarking on a Second World War photo-reconnaissance mission. His unarmed aircraft took off from Bastia-Borgo Airfield on the island of Corsica and vanished without a single trace over the Mediterranean Sea, sparking decades of speculation ranging from being shot down by enemy forces to technical failure, misdirection or even suicide.
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Above Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, the author of ‘The Little Prince’, writing (Photo: courtesy of Alliance Française de Hong Kong and the University Museum and Art Gallery)
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, the author of ‘The Little Prince’, writing (Photo: courtesy of Alliance Française de Hong Kong and the University Museum and Art Gallery)
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It was not until 1998 that a local French fisherman working the waters off the coast of Marseille pulled Saint-Exupéry’s silver identity bracelet from the ocean, finally bringing the potential truth of his fate to light. This providential catch directly enabled oceanographers to pinpoint the exact crash coordinates; two years later, his plane’s wreckage was officially located at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea by professional divers. This sequence of events culminated in the rediscovery of military reports from August 1944 regarding an unidentified body in a French uniform that had washed ashore nearby at the time, even though the location sat far off Saint-Exupéry’s scheduled flight path.
The historically significant bracelet, which shed vital light on the decades-long maritime mystery, is now on display in The Little Prince and the Pilot, an exhibition running until October 18 at the University of Hong Kong to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the book’s publication in France. On display alongside this piece are rare personal photographs, intimate letters, flight maps, personal items, original manuscripts and vintage editions of The Little Prince.
Above The silver bracelet of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, author of ‘The Little Prince’ (Photo: Tatler Hong Kong)
The silver bracelet of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, author of ‘The Little Prince’ (Photo: Tatler Hong Kong)
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“At the beginning, my grandfather thought it was a scam, a fake bracelet,” says Adrien Guiraud, the great-great-nephew of Saint-Exupéry. “He never saw Antoine with any bracelet. But finally, we found a picture of him wearing it.” The piece had actually been gifted to Saint-Exupéry in New York right before his military deployment to Corsica, an intimate detail his family back in continental Europe had never witnessed firsthand. “It was a miracle for the fisherman to pull the tarnished piece of jewellery up in his nets from the middle of the ocean, cast his eyes on the unmistakable name engraved on the metal plate and then keep it. This is the ‘real ending’ of The Little Prince.”
While the masterpiece was published over half a century ago, Guiraud believes its core philosophical messages remain highly modern and perhaps more important today than ever before. He observes that we are living in a contemporary world where everything moves increasingly fast, meaning that society often forgets “the human beside the machine or the AI”. For Guiraud, the book serves as an important reminder to return to foundational human values.
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Above A hand-drawn draft of ‘The Little Prince’ by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (Photo: courtesy of Alliance Française de Hong Kong and the University Museum and Art Gallery)
A hand-drawn draft of ‘The Little Prince’ by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (Photo: courtesy of Alliance Française de Hong Kong and the University Museum and Art Gallery)
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“The Little Prince reminds us of the youth and innocence we had as children,” he reflects, noting how the historical backdrop of the book informs his perspective as a parent. “As a father, what kind of world do I want to leave my children with? The Little Prince speaks of a time when the world wasn’t going very well. So unfortunately, that means maybe his advice on making the world better [remains relevant].”
Though classified universally as a children’s narrative, Saint-Exupéry purposefully constructed the text to serve as a mirror for adults, reminding them of the critical importance of love, creative imagination and simplicity. Guiraud says his personal favourite portion is the poignant dedication page where his great-great-uncle dedicates the volume to French writer and critic Léon Werth, addressing him as his “best friend in the world”. He says with a chuckle that his ancestor even actively apologised to his young readers for dedicating the story to an adult instead.
“After all these years of flying against the elements and fighting in the war, Antoine wrote these stories that look like they’re adventure tales for children, but really, they’re not stories [just] for kids,” says Guiraud. “His legacy is that of a man who lived fully across many chapters: he was first a child, an explorer, a fighter and a writer—one who turned his life’s adventures into stories that inspire the world.”
Zabrina is the Senior Editor, Arts and Culture of Tatler Hong Kong. She specialises in performing arts, visual art and film. Her wanderlust was first fuelled by the Mighty Rovers Antarctica Expedition 2010. Over the years, she has interviewed A-list artists and filmmakers, including Oscar winners Chlóe Zhao and Tim Yip, Golden Horse winner Sylvia Chang, In the Mood for Love cinematographer Christopher Doyle, Pachinko author Min Jin Lee, and Coachella’s first Chinese solo singer Jackson Wang. She won gold at the WAN-IFRA Asian Media Awards for her 2021 feature on the waves of hate crimes targeting Asian Americans.
