Pomp, ceremony as Charles III begins French state visit
King Charles III on Wednesday embarked on his first state visit to France as monarch, a three-day trip aimed at showing that the fundamentals of the cross-Channel alliance remains strong despite a litany of political tensions after Brexit.
Charles and President Emmanuel Macron were driven down the Champs-Elysees in Paris for talks at the Elysee Palace, escorted by 136 horses of the Republican Guard and standing up with the car roof open to acknowledge the few thousand people lining the famed avenue.
The trip, initially planned for March, was supposed to have been Charles' first state visit abroad since becoming monarch on the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II. But it was shelved due to widespread rioting and strikes across France against pension reforms.
The original itinerary in Paris and the southwestern city of Bordeaux -- packed with ceremony and pomp in a country that abolished its monarchy in the 1789 revolution and then executed the king -- is largely unchanged.
The king and Queen Camilla were welcomed at Paris Orly airport by Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, with the visit blessed by pristine autumn clear skies, an AFP correspondent said.
They then paused to remember war dead by laying wreaths at the Arc de Triomphe monument in the capital.
Driven down the Champs-Elysees, Macron and the king were seen chatting amicably while Camilla and Macron's wife Brigitte followed behind in a similar vehicle.
After their talks at the Elysee, Charles and Macron walked the short distance to the residence of the British ambassador, pausing to shake hands with well-wishers on the upscale rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honore.
- 'On his own terms' -
The Macrons will later host the royal couple at a state banquet at Versailles, the palace west of the capital synonymous with French royalty.
The menu will include delicacies like blue lobster cooked as a starter by star chef Anne-Sophie Pic, who has said she was inspired by the tastes of the "Sun King" Louis XIV.
Dinner guests in the glittering Hall of Mirrors will include Charlotte Gainsbourg, the actor and daughter of Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin, Hugh Grant and French former Arsenal football club manager Arsene Wenger.
Macron, who has faced accusations from left-wing opponents of himself behaving like a monarch, will be eager to ensure the event proceeds smoothly, without showing excess at a time of economic frugality.
"This image, in this context, is obviously fundamentally harmful for Emmanuel Macron even if there are diplomatic imperatives behind it which also play a role," French author and academic Benjamin Morel told AFP.
The French president, who has dealt with no fewer than four UK premiers over the last half-decade, is known to have a strong personal rapport with Charles.
With both men known for their love of books, Macron presented Charles with a book by the 20th-century French writer Romain Gary, while he received a special edition of Voltaire's "Lettres sur les Anglais" ("Letters on the English").
- In queen's footsteps -
There are reminders throughout the visit of the late queen, a French-speaking francophile who made five state visits to France during her record-breaking 70-year reign.
The Arc de Triomphe was the location for her ceremonial arrival on her last state visit in 2014.
On the first, in 1957, she lunched with president Rene Coty in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles.
Charles on Thursday addresses lawmakers in the French Senate, again following in the footsteps of his mother who did the same in 2004.
The queen also spent two days in Bordeaux -- a former English possession in the Middle Ages -- on a state visit in 1992.
Charles' visit is seen as the follow-up to moves by UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to reset relations between the two neighbours after post-Brexit turbulence.
Coincidentally, Charles arrives one day after Macron held talks with British opposition leader Keir Starmer, whose Labour Party is increasingly confident of being able to oust the ruling Conservatives from power.
(A.Renaud--LPdF)
