French first lady Brigitte Macron greeted Queen Camilla with a daring little ceremonial kiss on Wednesday, on the first day of a sumptuous three-day visit to France by King Charles II and his wife.
• Also read: Visit of Charles III: Champs-Élysées, small crowd and sumptuous dinner at Versailles
The open embrace between French President Emmanuel Macron and the British monarch under the Arc de Triomphe at the end of the Avenue des Champs-Élysées was quickly eclipsed by Brigitte Macron’s French kiss.
The first lady also didn’t curtsy to Queen Camilla, as the wind sometimes forced her to adjust her pale pink hat to match her long coat.
AFP
As for Emmanuel Macron, whose face was initially closed and serious, then he gradually relaxed and did not hesitate to politely pat the monarch on the shoulder.
AFP
A large security perimeter had been set up on both sides of the avenue and the crowd was dispersed several hundred meters from the Arc de Triomphe.
“I didn’t realize we were going to be blocked, I thought we could get through to the end. “It’s a little disappointing,” commented Marie Bernard, a 21-year-old student who would have liked to capture the ceremony on camera.
Further down the avenue, two or three rows of curious people managed to slip behind the barriers.
“It’s still a king, the royal family,” says Marie-Laure, a French and Latin teacher. This visit “represents something, this kind of greatness, the coming together of two countries.”