France | Charles III ends his visit with a final green touch

(Bordeaux) An oak tree planted in the town hall of Bordeaux: King Charles III ended his state visit to France on Friday, on a green note, during which he pleaded for a new Franco-Entente. British government to fight global warming.

The act is symbolic the day after a speech before the French Senate where King Charles also called for responding “more effectively” to “the global emergency in terms of climate and biodiversity”.

Friday in Bordeaux, Charles III took the shovel handed out by the city’s environmentalist mayor, Pierre Hurmic, to plant a medlar (or cracked-leaved) oak, “chosen for its capacity to adapt to climate change”, according to Buckingham.

“This oak gives us obligations: me, to take care of it, and him to get news of it,” declared the South-West councilor, welcoming this impromptu alliance of a “forest king” and an a “garden mayor”.

“I told him that we are trying to limit the space for cars in the city, that we are even planting trees instead of parking lots, and he pointed his two thumbs up as a sign of approval,” he said. added the mayor who gave the queen a lamp made by a local designer and the king a bottle of Château Palmer 2018.

Crowd baths

Charles III’s climate advocacy contrasts with Downing Street’s much-criticized U-turn on Wednesday on its environmental commitments, but it is not new. At the COP in Glasgow at the end of 2021, the future king had already urged heads of state to redouble their efforts against global warming.

A promoter of a more sustainable lifestyle, he has created an organic farm, converted royal estates to renewable energy and runs his old Aston Martin with surplus English white wine and whey from the cheese-making process.

It was aboard a more classic vehicle that the royal couple arrived at Bordeaux city hall.

Tram

Charles and Camilla then won the frigate HMS Iron Dukemoored on the Garonne river, on board which Prince William had undergone military training in 2008.

Then they briefly took the tram to Place de la Bourse where a temporary artisan village and artists’ stage were set up to celebrate British cultural and commercial links.

In 1152, the marriage of Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine, to the Count of Anjou and future King of England Henry II Plantagenet marked the beginning of three centuries of English domination in the province which remains the chosen land of A quarter of Britons living in France, according to official statistics.

In the city center, the king increased the number of short crowds, after celebrating Franco-British friendship in Versailles on Wednesday and pleading in favor of strengthened ties between the two countries.

Marella Hoffman, an Irish woman living in Sauternes, was “surprised by his kindness”.

Fijian song

“It’s something impressive, it’s something to see at least once in your life,” exclaimed Julie, a 20-year-old student.

The king and queen left the Place de la Bourse in the middle of a guard of honor formed by rugby players from the Fiji team, based in Bordeaux since the start of the World Cup, who even sang a song religious.

Camilla then visited an association helping the most deprived, Le Pain de l’Amitié, while Charles III crossed the river to discover an experimental forest in Floirac.

Scientists from the University of Bordeaux and the National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment explained their work on the impact of environmental changes on forests, starting with drought, in a region marked by gigantic fires in 2022.

Before taking off for the United Kingdom late in the afternoon, the royal couple visited Château Smith Haut Lafitte, where they were able to taste a 2005 Grand Cru Classé. Camilla also tried in vain to feed one llamas who help weed the 87 hectares of this estate converted to biodynamics.

Founded in the 14th^e century and bearing the name of a former Scottish owner, George Smith, the success of this castle contrasts with the serious crisis of overproduction in which the largest vineyard in France (110,000 hectares cultivated) is plunged.