French -- yes, looking again I think all the accented letters are there, and the circonflex and umlaut are on one key (dead, presumably).

Makes me realize that English standard keyboards lost the opportunity to add a couple of extra characters by having the period and comma in lower and upper case. I don't think people typed any extended passages all in caps, so no need for those characters in upper case (my view, anyway). 

Great looking machine!!  Print sample looks very good too.  Capitals are just a touch low, but not bad enough to worry about.  But I don't think this machine was made in 1968.  More than likely, it was made in 1958.  I am not sure when the HH ended and the FP started, but I had heard that the earliest FP was 1957, but I haven't seen an HH later than 1956.  Either the FP started in 1956 or the HH ended in 1957.  The latest I've seen FPs was made in 1961, about the time the Empress came out.  Some consider the FP the last of the great Royals.

1962 sounds right.  The 1968 Royals in the upright category were the 440s.  In my opinion, they're all right machines, but they're not the machines the FPs are.  If you really want to know the truth, I haven't found too many typewriters made in 1968 that I like.  It's a shame, because that was the year I was born.  If I could find out about a few Smith-Coronas I own, they don't seem to have any records past 1964 as of yet on the Database.  I had an IBM Executive made that year, but that one folded up on me, as did most of the Model D typewriters IBM made.  I hear the last Underwood upright manual was made in 1968, but other sources say 1963, so I'm not too sure.  Remington made a machine that had an incredible touch, but the plastic body reminds me of a huge Tupperware dish.  I guess a case could be made for Olympia, Adler, and maybe a few others I haven't heard of as of yet.  If I find a 1968 typewriter that I know to be a 1968, and if I can appreciate it with any degree at all, I'm keepin' that sucker!

I'd love to try the FP. I have two of the 440s and they're really pretty good. However, I like much better the "deep" keys of the FP to the thinner keys that the 440s have -- something about the thicker keys seems to be more forgiving of somewhat imprecise finger placement (a problem of mine). But for some reason the thinner, metal-edged keys of the KMM and KHM, for instance, work OK for me. The FP is a nice looker, too -- the keystone red Royal badge and the patterned metal front are nice touches.

Love the FP, there are so many little design touches that make it stant out, but I might like the Empress just a bit more. However, what makes you think that the platen is original? Swapping out the platen was once a very common practice as part of regular maintenance, and a 30 year-old platen can be just as hard as one twice its age.