Awkward moment Emmanuel Macron air kisses the Princess of Wales' hand after being snubbed by wife Brigitte
The French President was left red-faced after arriving at RAF Northolt in west London this morning, where the couple were welcomed by the Prince and Princess of Wales.
After President Macron disembarked the plane he extended a helping hand to the First Lady as she walked down the steps.
But Mrs Macron appeared to ignore the gesture and instead kept holding the handrail as she walked down, leaving her husband to awkwardly drop his hand.
And just seconds later, the French leader suffered another fumbling faux pas as he went to greet William and Kate, who had been patiently waiting on the runway.
He first embraced Prince William with a long handshake before turning to the Princess and offering her an unconventional kiss on the hand.
The gesture was made even more awkward as President Macron appeared to miss her hand entirely, instead giving her an 'air kiss' just above it.
Later on, the Macrons were seen in a car waiting to leave the base - and relations appeared frosty, with Mrs Macron looking at her phone after getting it out of her bag.
William and Kate greeted the Macrons at about 11.30am and travelled with them to Windsor to meet the King and Queen Camilla for a carriage procession.
The Princess was wearing a Christian Dior jacket, a hat by Jess Collett, Princess Diana 's old earrings and a pearl necklace from Queen Elizabeth II 's collection.
The Christian Dior jacket is the 30 Montaigne Rose Des Vents Bar Jacket from the 2024 collection.
The piece was reimagined by Italian designer Maria Grazia Chiuri who was inspired by the original, which was first created in 1947 by Dior himself.
The King's Colour Squadron formed a carpet welcome party at the airfield for the Macrons, and they were initially welcomed by Helene Duchene, the King's Ambassador to France.
After meeting William and Kate, a series of dignitaries were presented to the French couple including Sir Kenneth Olisa, the Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London.
Others included Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley and Northolt station commander Captain Jonathan Hough along with Kathryn Colvin, Special Representative of the Foreign Secretary.
Also in the welcome party were members of the British Suite including The Viscount Brookeborough, Lord-in-Waiting; and Dame Menna Rawlings, Ambassador at Paris.
The Prince and Princess of Wales leave by car after greeting the President of France today
It comes after Mrs Macron sparked a storm in May when she was seen pushing her husband's face away with both hands before they disembarked a plane in Vietnam.
The president dismissed the gesture - caught on camera - as horseplay, but it caused a huge stir in France, with daily Le Parisien newspaper asking: 'Slap or 'squabble'?'
Later in the afternoon, the two couples were joined by King Charles and Queen Camilla as they enjoyed a a carriage procession through Windsor.
The King and Mr Macron waved from the 1902 State Landau to crowds gathered on the streets, followed by Camilla and Mrs Macron in the Semi-State Landau.
The third carriage, the Ascot Landau, carried William and Kate who accompanied France's armed forces minister Sebastien Lecornu and French culture minister Rachida Dati.
The final two Ascot Landau carriages ferried officials including Helene Duchene, the French ambassador to the UK, and General Fabien Mandon, chief of the military staff.
The processional route, lined through the town by the armed forces, took in Datchet Road, Thames Street High Street, Park Street, Cambridge Gate, George IV Gateway to the Quadrangle of Windsor Castle.
When the procession swept into the castle, an array of military units were in position waiting to take part in the ceremonial welcome.
Emmanuel Macron and King Charles III inspect the Guard of Honour at Windsor Castle today
Central was the guard of honour formed by two of the British Army's oldest regiments: Nijmegen Company Grenadier Guards and F Company Scots Guards with the state colours of the regiments.
Mr and Mrs Macron were joined by the King and Queen on a dais, with William and Kate stood nearby.
As the President and King stood waiting for their wives to join them, they shared a few words and Mr Macron warmly touched the King's back.
The pomp and pageantry featured the Military Knights of Windsor by the castle's sovereign's entrance, a detachment of the Household Cavalry nearby and outside the equerries' entrance was the King's Body Guard of the Yeomen of the Guard.
After the royal salute was given by the soldiers on parade and the French national anthem was played, Major Jake Sayers, captain of the guard of honour, spoke in French to President Macron.
He told the visiting head of state: "Your excellency, the guard of honour of the Grenadier Guards and Scots Guards is present and ready for your inspection."
The French leader was joined by the King as he walked past the guardsmen formed in two lines on the quadrangle of Windsor Castle, as the Massed Band of the Grenadier Guards and the Scots Guards played L'Entente Cordiale.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
44 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Life Cycle of a Moth by Rowe Irvin review – captivating story of maternal love and male violence
In the woodland, beyond the fence, inside the old forester's hut, Maya and Daughter live in a world of rituals. The fence is secured with 'Keep-Safes' – fingernails, Daughter's first teeth, the umbilical cord that once joined them – to protect them from intruders. While their days are filled with chores, setting traps for rabbits and gathering firewood, every night they play a game they call 'This-and-That', in which they take it in turns to choose an activity – hair-brushing, dancing, copying – before saying their 'sorrys and thank yous' in the bed they share. From the beginning of British author Rowe Irvin's captivating debut novel, it is clear that Maya has created this life for herself and her daughter – who calls her mother 'Myma' – as a refuge from the brutality of the world beyond the fence's perimeter. Irvin's tale switches between two narrative strands: present-day chapters narrated by Daughter, a naive, spirited girl who is as much woodland creature as she is person; and more distant sections detailing Maya's rural upbringing with an alcoholic father and withdrawn mother, and the acts of male violence that led her to flee. Maya has taught Daughter only the words she needs for their existence, so although Daughter is 15, her language is childlike: 'Sweat dries in the furry unders of my arms.' Later, Daughter is out in the woods: 'Touch finger and thumb together now to make a circle for peering through. Move slow, pointing my seeing-hole at ground and tree and sky.' It's a feat that Irvin maintains this playful, almost incantatory voice in all Daughter's sections across these 300 pages. Maya tells Daughter that their rituals protect them against 'Rotters', people living beyond the fence, who are 'empty on the inside … hollow'. If a Rotter were to intrude on their sanctuary, they would be eaten away like 'gone-bad apples'. 'Shudder with the thought of it,' Daughter thinks. But as the novel progresses, the manner in which Maya controls Daughter's understanding of the world grows more frightening. When Daughter finds a glove in the woods – she thinks it is a 'blue hand blanket', and laughs at 'the way the long fingers flap empty at the ends' – she takes it to show her mother, thinking it will make her laugh too. It doesn't. 'It came from a Rotter,' Maya says. 'One must have got in during the dark and left it as a trick … You shouldn't have touched it.' Later, she is warned against being too inquisitive when she meets Maya in the ash copse, a rope around her neck and a stump beneath her feet. Maya tells her: 'If I step off my neck will snap and I'll be dead … The questions you ask, she says then, they can do damage, Daughter'. Daughter only has more questions when she finds the Rotter who dropped the glove. The intruder, a man named Wyn, is the first human she has ever seen apart from Maya. Her mother rages against Wyn, until a strange force stops her killing him. Once Maya convinces Daughter she has 'cut the Rot' from him, he is invited inside their dwelling, first roped-up and kept on the floor, and then given a seat at the table. More and more, Daughter questions Maya's logic. How did Wyn get over the fence, with all their Keep-Safes? And why is it suddenly OK for them to be around a Rotter? Wyn's outside perspective further reveals the extent to which the belief system they live by is simply Maya's coping mechanism for personal trauma. We know she has created this world out of a desire to protect herself and her kin. But with her love, she has also been deceptive, sometimes cruel. In impish yet tender style, Irvin thoughtfully explores what it means for a mother to care for a daughter in a world where male violence is everywhere. Life Cycle of a Moth is the very best kind of fiction: with the book open, you feel utterly transported; once you close it, you see how cunningly it holds a mirror up to reality. I can't wait to read whatever Irvin writes next. Sign up to Inside Saturday The only way to get a look behind the scenes of the Saturday magazine. Sign up to get the inside story from our top writers as well as all the must-read articles and columns, delivered to your inbox every weekend. after newsletter promotion Life Cycle of a Moth by Rowe Irvin is published by Canongate (£16.99). To support the Guardian buy a copy at Delivery charges may apply.
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Ed Sheeran reveals surprising new career tangent after being inspired by his parents
He's known for making some of the most popular tunes of the 2000s. But British icon Ed Sheeran, 34, is now ditching the microphone, temporarily, for a paint brush as he embarks on a surprising new endeavour as an artist. The Ipswich-born star's first collection, titled Cosmic Carpark Paintings, will go on sale this week and features a series of original canvases and unique prints masterminded by the man himself. Ed revealed that all of the paintings were inspired by celestial forms and created in a disused central London park during his Mathematics tour. 'I started painting at the end of my Divide Tour in 2019 and it's something that I've used as a creative outlet ever since,' he said. 'When I was growing up, both of my parents worked in art, so I've naturally always been interested in it, and I always enjoyed studying art at school. 'I was back and forth on tour last year, and I used a lot of my downtime in the UK to paint. I'd run to a disused car park in Soho each morning, paint and then run home and I'd do that daily until I headed back out on tour again.' Ed said that he was encouraged to pursue the possibility of releasing his own collection by British painter Damien Hirst. 'I told my good friends Damien Hirst and Joe Hage about the paintings and they encouraged me to do my own thing. 'So I decided to use it as a way of raising funds for my Ed Sheeran Foundation which supports music education in the UK and helps fund grassroots music projects, schools and equipment, so all kids have access to music. 'I want to thank Damien and Joe for everything they've done for me on this exhibition and I'm delighted to be putting it on.' The exhibition of paintings will be on display at the HENI Gallery on Lexington Street, London, between July 11 and August 1. 50 per cent of all proceeds from original sales and £300 from each print will go direcly to the Ed Sheeran Foundation. Ed's career move comes weeks after fans were left shocked when a photo of his rarely-seen wife's LinkedIn page surfaced. While the Grammy-winning artist has been rocking arenas across the globe, it turns out his spouse Cherry Seaborn has been quietly building an impressive corporate career of her own. A screenshot of her LinkedIn page which went viral online revealed that Cherry has spent years working as a Manager at consultancy firm Deloitte. After the image began circulating on X, formerly Twitter, it sparked a flurry of admiration and surprise online. Not only did Cherry juggle a demanding corporate job while being married to one of the world's most famous musicians, but she also hit pause on her career at one point to pursue further education. Her resume includes a Master's degree from Duke University and a Post Graduate Certificate in Sustainable Business from the University of Cambridge. And before her most recent stint as Manager in Deloitte's Nature, Climate and Sustainability - Innovation, she worked in both the London and New York offices, amassing nearly nine years with the firm overall. Ed and Cherry met back when they were teenagers at their high schools in Suffolk. They reconnected in 2015 while both were living in New York City, and tied the knot in 2018. Since then, they've welcomed two daughters: Lyra in 2020 and Jupiter in 2022. The screenshot revealed that Cherry, who met Ed when they were teenagers, has spent years working as a Manager at Deloitte
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Ozzy Osbourne 'could return to the stage but with a twist' - despite playing his last ever live show
could be set to return to the stage but with a twist, according to reports on Tuesday. The Black Sabbath frontman, 76, performed his final gig at Birmingham 's Villa Park this weekend as he reunited with his bandmates one last time. Ozzy has spoken openly about his health in recent years after undergoing seven surgeries in the past five years, including a fourth spinal operation in 2023. The band - Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Bill Ward and Ozzy - are said to have trademarked their name in virtual reality. It would allow for Black Sabbath to be beamed out in arenas in digital form - allowing them to perform gigs from thousands of miles away. According to The Mirror, the papers 'trademark use of production and presentation of animation and other special effects.' The move to trademark their virtual being follows the estates of George Michael and Freddie Mercury, who also filed documentation showing they plan to branch out into live events - inspired by ABBA Voyage. MailOnline has contacted Ozzy's representative for comment. Bands like Oasis have also taken similar plans, while rockers KISS have unveiled 'immortal' digital avatars that will carry on their performances when band members are no longer able to tour. The rash of projects involving holograms of pop stars has been fuelled by the success of London's ABBA Voyage show, which sold more than a million tickets in the first year, and is one of London's most visited attractions. ABBA Voyage, launched in 2022, has holographic avatars of Bjorn Ulvaeus, Agnetha Faltskog, Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Benny Andersson singing crowd favourites such as Dancing Queen and Waterloo. Ozzy closed out his final ever live performance with some emotional words at Birmingham's Villa Park Stadium on Saturday night. He reunited with his Black Sabbath bandmates for their first performance in their original line-up since 2005 - and their final ever show as a band. The heavy metal singer had some poignant words for Villa Park as he brought the show to an emotional close in his hometown, Birmingham - where Black Sabbath formed some 56 years ago. Closing the band's final gig, Ozzy said: 'It's the last song ever. Your support has enabled us to live an amazing lifestyle, thank you from the bottom of our hearts.' A message on screen then read: 'Thank you for everything, you guys are f***ing amazing. Birmingham Forever,' before the sky lit up with fireworks. The band's final performance was overwhelming for frontman Ozzy, who repeatedly thanked fans for their ongoing support over his five decades in the music industry. As the 42,000-strong crowd cheered him on, Ozzy admitted at one point: 'You have no idea how I feel.' Ozzy previously said he was unsure whether he was going to stand or sit down to perform due to his spinal operations, and he made an epic arrival on stage in a black quilted throne with a huge bat on top.
