There was no false note. Charles III and Emmanuel Macron carried a message of Franco-British “friendship” focused on “the future” during a sumptuous dinner at the Palace of Versailles, the highlight of the king’s visit to France which began on Wednesday with a ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe and a mini crowd bath.
This three-day visit to France, the first since the monarch’s coronation, “is a sign of friendship and trust”, seen “as a tribute to our past, and as a guarantee of the future”, affirmed the French president in opening of the meal.
He juggles between French and English
A few moments later, Charles III addressed the assembly for his traditional toast, juggling between French, which he speaks fluently, and English. “It is up to us all to reinvigorate our friendship so that it is up to the challenges of this 21st century,” he told Emmanuel Macron, calling for a “renewal” of the Entente Cordiale, or concorde. Franco-British, whose 120th anniversary will be celebrated next April.
As often, the sovereign insisted on the challenges of climate change, “this scourge”, but also on “the defense of Ukraine”. The French head of state did not forget to mention Brexit, assuring that “despite” this exit from the European Union, “we will continue to write together part of the future of our continent, to meet the challenges and serve the causes that we have in common.
A royal menu
The two heads of state did not forget, either, to use humor by sometimes talking about sport, sometimes historical anecdotes. This message extended the calm seen in recent months in Franco-British relations after several stormy years when Boris Johnson was in Downing Street, on Brexit, fishing and migrants. In the wake of a summit in March where the French president and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak allowed a “reconnection” between the two capitals.
The choice of Versailles was also an opportunity to send a nod to the king’s mother, welcomed in this sumptuous setting in 1957 and 1962. On Wednesday, the French president paid tribute to her.
At the table, he sat between Charles and Camilla – Brigitte Macron sitting to the right of the king -, presiding over a table of prestigious guests, from the legendary Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger to the actor Hugh Grant, the actress Charlotte Gainsbourg or the boss of the luxury group LVMH Bernard Arnault. On the menu: blue lobster, Bresse poultry and rose macaroon, prepared by starred chefs and served in Sèvres porcelain.
Brigitte Macron (from L to R), Queen Camilla, Charles III and Emmanuel Macron arrive at the Palace of Versailles, September 20, 2023
© / afp.com/Ludovic MARIN
A first report
Will this splendor be damaging to the image of Emmanuel Macron, six months after the pension crisis whose demonstrations led to the postponement of the royal visit, initially planned for March?
The descent of the Champs-Elysées by car by the king and the president, a little earlier on Wednesday, was in any case carried out calmly and in a relaxed atmosphere, like the few pats addressed by Emmanuel Macron in the back of Charles III.
Queen Camilla and Brigitte Macron surprised each other by giving each other a little formal kiss twice: upon arrival at the foot of the Arc de Triomphe before a ceremony to rekindle the flame of the Unknown Soldier, then in the courtyard of the Palace of Versailles.
In Paris, the general public was kept away from the ceremony by a large security system, to the great dismay of Apolline Pilorget, who came with her nine-year-old daughter. “We thought we could get a little closer,” she lamented. At Versailles too, onlookers flocked. “I was not at all against the visit but when we see the menu, given the current situation I am a little shocked,” pointed out Laurence Bos, 68 years old. “They could have done that at the Élysée.”
A visit to the Senate on Thursday
Charles III and Emmanuel Macron also spoke at the Elysée, before walking to the nearby residence of the United Kingdom ambassador to plant an oak tree. The opportunity for a mini-crowd, with a few “long live the king” thrown out here and there.
The king, who intends to establish his image internationally a year after his accession to the throne, will begin the most political part of his visit on Thursday with a speech from the Senate gallery, a first for a British sovereign.
He will also highlight a subject that is close to his heart, the environment, during a round table on global warming which he will close with President Macron at the National Museum of Natural History then on Friday in Bordeaux, in a region hit hard by fires in 2022 and which has many Britons.
Some 8,000 police and gendarmes were mobilized on Wednesday and up to 12,000 on Friday, when the king’s visit will also coincide with that of Pope Francis in Marseille.