ParisCNN –
Britain’s King Charles and Queen Camilla arrived in Paris on Wednesday, marking the start of a three-day state visit designed to highlight the close ties between France and the United Kingdom.
Charles and French President Emmanuel Macron will dine together in Versailles and later hold one-on-one talks. However, the state visit began with a memorial ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe and a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
The royal couple then marched in a procession to the Elysee presidential palace. The visit comes six months later than originally planned Macron was forced to awkwardly postpone the original trip due to nationwide violent clashes over his pension reform.
The French leader canceled the visit in March just days before the end, saying at the time his government would have lacked “common sense” if it had taken place. Instead, the British monarch and his wife traveled to Germany for their historic first trip abroad.
The royal couple arrived in Paris on a sunny day on Wednesday, with invited guests, veterans and scouts gathered at the Arc de Triomphe. They were treated to a flypast by the French Air Force’s elite aerobatic team and the famous Red Arrows.
The king and Macron symbolically lit the eternal flame that burns continuously in memory of those who lost their lives in the First and Second World Wars.
The commemoration ceremony, which included the anthems of both nations, commemorated Queen Elizabeth II’s last state visit to France in 2014.
Christian Hartmann/Portal
The program for the rescheduled visit to Paris and Bordeaux includes individual discussions in the Elysee presidential palace and an event with top athletes.
The one-on-one talks between Charles and Macron will touch on a range of topics, from biodiversity and climate change to the war in Ukraine and the situation in the Sahel, an Elysee Palace source said ahead of the trip.
The Elysee source said the couple had “a relationship of friendship and trust” and that “the king is always very interested in the president’s analysis on important international issues.”
The first day is crowned with a lavish state banquet, where up to 180 people are invited to dine in the dazzling Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles on the outskirts of Paris.
Celebrities and important figures from British and French culture are expected to attend, including actors Hugh Grant, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Emma Mackey, writer Ken Follett, environmentalist Yann Arthus-Bertrand and former professional tennis player Amelie Mauresmo.
While some have questioned the decision to hold the state dinner at Versailles, the Elysee source said it was a nod to the late queen, who dined there during a state visit in 1972, “and the king was grateful for the idea.” “That he was able to follow in his mother’s footsteps.”
Hosting the banquet at the royal residence built by French King Louis XIV was also “an opportunity to promote France through one of its most iconic landmarks,” the source added.
Chris Jackson/Pool/Portal
King Charles and French President Emmanuel Macron began the state visit with a memorial ceremony and a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
The packed royal itinerary for the rescheduled visit to Paris and Bordeaux, which ends on Friday, is largely unchanged except for a few additions.
In a new engagement, Charles and Camilla meet top athletes at an event highlighting the benefits of sport for young people. France is currently hosting the men’s Rugby World Cup and next year’s Olympics will be held in Paris.
Another fresh element will be the launch of a new Franco-British literary prize by Camilla and the president’s wife, Brigitte Macron, at the Bibliotheque Nationale de France, the national library.
More than 8,000 police and gendarmes were mobilized for the first day of the state visit, the French Interior Ministry told CNN. The number will rise to 30,000 over the week and weekend to also ensure security for Pope Francis’ visit to Marseille.
Macron has been hit by domestic crises this year, with deep-rooted divisions in French society becoming increasingly evident in recent months. In August, the government sparked accusations of Islamophobia after it announced a ban on abayas at the start of the academic year. The country was rocked by a wave of protests over the summer after a 17-year-old boy was shot by a police officer, reigniting a debate about race, identity and over-policing in marginalized communities. Meanwhile, anger over Macron’s controversial pension reform continues to simmer.
However, veteran French journalist Christine Ockrent told CNN that Charles’ trip was not about domestic politics but about “celebrating the ancient and very close relations between France and Britain.”
“All the burning issues right now are, if not out of the way, then at least hidden,” she told CNN.
“The newspapers and magazines will be full of stories about Camilla and her dresses and Charles’ pretty good French, his command of the French language – things like that, and people love that.”
Camilla’s fashion didn’t disappoint as she appeared in a dusty pink wool crepe coat dress by Fiona Clare and a pink beret hat with a leaf design by Philip Treacy. French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne also wore a pink jacket and greeted the couple at Paris Orly Airport.
Ockrent added: “Of course, France being France, there will certainly be some demonstrations where people will say, ‘Why waste all that money?’, but on the whole people will be happy.”
The visit of Charles and Camilla – which takes place at the request of the British government and at the invitation of the French – comes after British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was seen having a warm conversation with Macron on the sidelines of the G20 leaders’ summit in New Delhi earlier this month.
Nathan Laine/Bloomberg/Getty Images
France’s Emmanuel Macron greets British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak before their bilateral meeting at the Elysee Palace on March 10, 2023 in Paris.
In March, Sunak also traveled to Paris for a bilateral summit aimed at revitalizing Anglo-French relations. There he acknowledged heightened tensions in the years since Britain voted to leave the European Union in 2016, but hailed that moment as “a new beginning.”
“We look to the future, a future built on everything we share – our history, our geography, our values. And a future that is far more ambitious in how we work together to improve the lives of the people we serve,” Sunak said.
The royal trip will be seen by many as a continuation of the two neighbors’ efforts to reset relations in a post-Brexit world.
Ahead of the trip, the King’s Deputy Private Secretary Chris Fitzgerald said: “The state visit will celebrate Britain’s relationship with France and mark our shared history, culture and values.”
During the visit, the king will be the first member of the British royal family to address the French Senate from the chamber, where he is expected to speak at least part of the time in French. A similar move was well received in Germany, where Charles switched back and forth between German and English during his speech to the Bundestag in Berlin.
Queen Elizabeth II spoke in the French Senate back in 2004, but delivered her speech in an adjacent hall, the Salle des Conferences.
Eric Fefeberg/AFP/Getty Images
Queen Elizabeth II greets politicians with French Senate Speaker Christian Poncelet (left) in Paris in 2004.
Elizabeth II reduced her foreign travel in the later years of her reign and instead sent other senior members of the royal family to represent her abroad. With the UK now able to use its monarch as part of its foreign policy objectives, experts say we should expect more frequent trips abroad.
British diplomat Scott Furssedonn-Wood told CNN that these visits were “of great importance.”
“First of all, the choice of destinations – this has real symbolism, and the fact that these first state visits are taking place with two of our oldest European partners is very significant. They are a recognition at the highest level of the importance we place on a relationship,” he said.
“But they are also more than that. They create a space for real business,” added Furssedonn-Wood, the British High Commissioner to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean.
Craig Prescott, a British constitutional expert and author of the upcoming book Modern Monarchy, agrees that the choice of destinations is a clear indication of some of the British government’s immediate priorities.
“Going to Germany and going to France sends a very big signal that Britain is not leaving Europe, especially at a time of Ukraine,” said Prescott, a lecturer in law at Royal Holloway University of London.
“In a way, many of these state visits could be quite banal so as not to offend the host, but in fact (the king’s) speech in the Bundestag about reconciliation and moving forward had real content.”
Furssedonn-Wood agreed that the public could expect “a bit of substance” from the royal visit to France.
“As a sovereign and as a queen, it is not their job to campaign on an issue, and they certainly don’t, but they want to ensure that the visit shows excellence on the issues they care about.”
Furssedonn-Wood, who previously served as the royal couple’s deputy private secretary, said the king “has an exceptional work ethic” that he will draw on during his trips abroad.
Later in the week, Charles and Camilla will travel on to Bordeaux in southwest France, where they will meet rescue workers and communities affected by wildfires last year. They will also meet with British and French military officials to discuss how the countries work together on defense.
This is Charles’ 35th official visit to France and Camilla’s ninth. The royal couple last visited the country in 2019, when they attended a service marking the 75th anniversary of the Normandy landings.
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