from its inception, "l'express du midi" was right-wing and royalist. its first directors were a group of aristocrats from the haute-garonne (the counts of suffren, palaminy, and adhémar), and it often published lengthy extracts from articles by charles maurras who was the principal philosopher of action française, a right-wing monarchist political movement. the paper claimed the upholding of roman catholic values to be part of its mission, but its approach was not always looked upon with favour by catholic prelates.