The royal couple begins a three-day state visit to France on Wednesday, six months after having had to postpone their visit due to the mobilization against pension reform.
Red carpet for the British royal couple. King Charles III and Queen Camilla are expected in France from Wednesday September 20 for a three-day state visit. Six months after having had to postpone their visit due to the mobilization against pension reform, the British royal couple will walk down the Champs-Elysées and dine at Versailles with Emmanuel Macron and Brigitte Macron. Charles and Camilla must also meet members of civil society, including firefighters who participated in the fight against fires in the Landes in July 2022.
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On both sides of the Channel, this visit is marked by the celebration of the old ties between the two countries, at a time when their leaders are striving to ease the tensions inherited from Brexit. Here is the program for the British king’s visit to France.
A ceremony under the Arc de Triomphe
The British royal couple will be welcomed early Wednesday afternoon by Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne on the tarmac of Paris-Orly airport. Direction the Arc de Triomphe: Charles III and Camilla will meet Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron there, alongside whom they will rekindle the flame of the unknown soldier during a ceremony.
A review of the troops will be carried out and a wreath will be laid. A minute of silence will be observed, then the Republican Guard will play God Save The Kingthe British anthem, and The Marseillaise. The heads of state will then walk down the Champs-Elysées and then Emmanuel Macron will meet with Charles III at the Elysée.
A dinner at the Palace of Versailles
Wednesday evening, Charles III and Queen Camilla will be welcomed to Versailles for a state dinner. The meal will be given in the Hall of Mirrors, the most emblematic place of the castle, originally intended to celebrate the omnipotence of Louis XIV and to dazzle its visitors. Between 150 and 180 guests are invited to this dinner.
The choice of Versailles responds above all to a desire to “make France shine” through one of its most prestigious sites and at a wish of Charles III, “sensitive to the idea of following in his mother’s footsteps”, advances the Elysée to AFP. Elizabeth II was in fact the most received foreign head of state at Versailles, with three visits: in 1948 (then crown princess), in 1957 and in 1972.
A speech before Parliament
On Thursday, Charles III will deliver a speech to parliamentarians gathered in the Senate, during which he is expected to speak partly in French, as he did last March when he spoke in German before the Bundestag in Berlin. Thursday afternoon, the royal couple will visit the square in front of Notre-Dame de Paris and are expected to speak with representatives of the cathedral’s restoration team.
A meeting in Saint-Denis
The two heads of state will also highlight certain subjects such as the promotion of reading or youth entrepreneurship. A meeting is planned with local associations and sports personalities in Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis), one of the major venues for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Queen Camilla and Brigitte Macron will also launch a new Franco-British literary prize from the National Library of France, specifies a press release from Buckingham Palace.
A trip to Bordeaux
Charles and Camilla will then travel to Bordeaux, which was once under the control of the English King Henry II, and where 39,000 Britons now reside. They must visit a vineyard and meet firefighters who took part in the fight against the fires which ravaged the Landes department last year. They must go to the Floirac experimental forest (Gironde), a project intended to study the effects of climate change, specifies the newspaper South West.