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The Independent
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
King and Queen roll out red carpet for the Macrons during French state visit
The King and Queen rolled out the red carpet for the President of France Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte in Windsor at the start of the French state visit to the UK. Charles and Camilla warmly greeted the French leader and the first lady on a specially constructed Royal Dais near the town's Windsor and Eton Riverside train station, with the castle in the backdrop. Mr Macron dolled out the Gallic charm by taking Camilla's hand and leaning forward to air kiss it, having earlier greeted the Princess of Wales at RAF Northolt with the same gesture. There were 'la bise' kisses between Mrs Macron and the Queen, and as Mr Macron stood chatting to the King with ease, the president placed his hand on the monarch's back and gave it a few affectionate rubs. The King was sporting a burst blood vessel in his right eye, which is said to have developed overnight and be unrelated to any other health conditions. Nearly 400 military personnel from the Army, RAF and Royal Navy lined the High Street along the ceremonial route and a 41-gun salute sounded in nearby Home Park in Mr Macron's honour to mark his arrival. Amid pomp and ceremony, military bands played both British and French music for the waiting crowds, and a Captain's Escort of the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment, in their plumed helmets and shiny silver breastplates, and riding Irish chargers, formed a Guard of Honour. The Prince and Princess of Wales accompanied the King's guests to the Berkshire town after meeting them at RAF Northolt in west London on Tuesday morning and joining them for the 14-mile car journey. Kate was carrying out the royal duties on Tuesday after opening up about her 'rollercoaster' cancer recovery, its life-changing impact and putting on a 'brave face' last week. She channelled diplomatic royal dressing choosing to wear French fashion house Christian Dior for the celebratory occasion. Her earrings belonged to Diana, Princess of Wales and the pearl necklace was from the late Queen's collection. The Christian Dior jacket is the 30 Montaigne Rose Des Vents Bar Jacket and a piece from the 2024 collection. It was reimagined by Maria Grazia Chiuri, who was inspired by the original first created in 1947 by Dior himself. Kate's hat was by Jess Collett. The Queen was wearing a bright emerald green chiffon dress by Anna Valentine and a hat by Philip Treacy, and an emerald and diamond brooch that belonged to the late Queen. Hundreds of members of the public packed the streets hoping to get a glimpse of the royals and their guests on their carriage ride through the town on their way to Windsor Castle. Mr Macron and the King chatted enthusiastically as Household Cavalry made their way down the road and the open-top carriages arrived. Charles then led Mr Macron into their landau and chuckled as they chatted while taking their seats. The state visit is the first to the UK by an EU head of state since Brexit, and the first to be held at Windsor, rather than Buckingham Palace, for more than a decade, thanks to ongoing refurbishments at the London residence. At a glittering state banquet being staged in the castle's vast medieval St George's Hall on Tuesday evening, the King will stress the vital partnership between France and the UK in the face of a 'multitude of complex threats', declaring 'as friends and as allies, we face them together'. He will highlight how 'these challenges know no borders: no fortress can protect us against them this time'. Mr Macron will address parliamentarians in the Palace of Westminster's Royal Gallery in the afternoon and, on Thursday, join a UK-France Summit at Downing Street. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has signalled a 'reset' in relations between the UK and Europe as he looks to heal the wounds caused by the Brexit years. Defence, growth, security, migration and French tactics on tackling small boats will be discussed, with the two leaders expected to dial in to speak to other allied nations who are looking to support any future peace deal in Ukraine. Downing Street said on Monday that the UK's relationship with France was 'key' to dealing with boat crossings, following reports French police officers had used knives to puncture a boat off the coast.
France 24
08-07-2025
- Business
- France 24
France's Macron kicks off 'historic' UK state visit
Macron, accompanied by his wife Brigitte, hailed an "important moment for our two nations" after landing and heading straight for Windsor, west of London, to meet the British monarch. "Together, we will address the major challenges of our time: security, defence, nuclear energy, space, innovation, artificial intelligence, migration, and culture," he posted on X. The French leader added that Paris and London were seeking to "deepen our cooperation in a concrete, effective, and lasting way". The first state visit by an EU head of state since the UK's acrimonious 2020 departure from the European Union, it is also the first by a French president since Nicolas Sarkozy in 2008. During his visit, Macron will hold several meetings with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer. After taking power in 2024, the British leader has been making good on his pledge to reset relations with European capitals following years of Brexit-fuelled tensions. Their discussions are expected to focus on aid to war-torn Ukraine and bolstering defence spending, as well as joint efforts to stop migrants from crossing the Channel in small boats -- a potent political issue in Britain. Calling the visit "historic", Starmer's office said it would showcase "the breadth of the existing relationship" between Britain and France. Windsor pomp Macron and his wife Brigitte were greeted off the presidential plane Tuesday at an air base northwest of London by heir-to-the-throne Prince William and his wife Catherine, Princess of Wales. In a stylistic nod to her guests, the princess wore a Christian Dior jacket. A short time later Charles and his wife, Queen Camilla, warmly welcomed the entourage to Windsor, amid a full display of British pomp and pageantry. The Francophile king, who is believed to enjoy a warm rapport with Macron, could be seen chatting with him enthusiastically during their early interactions. Charles made a 2023 state visit to France, one of his first after ascending the throne and widely regarded as a success. After a 41-gun salute sounded from nearby Home Park and a royal carriage procession through the town, which was decked out in French Tricolores and British Union flags, the group entered the castle for lunch. They will return there later for a state banquet in the vast medieval St George's Hall, when in a speech Charles is set to laud the vital partnership between France and the UK amid a "multitude of complex threats". "As friends and as allies, we face them together," he will say, according to Buckingham Palace. Before that, Macron will follow in the footsteps of predecessors Charles de Gaulle and Francois Mitterrand by addressing lawmakers in the UK parliament. The visit also aims to boost trade and business ties, with Paris and London announcing Tuesday that French energy giant EDF will have a 12.5-stake in new British nuclear power plant Sizewell C. 'Support for Ukraine' On Wednesday, Macron will have lunch with Starmer and the two leaders will on Thursday co-host the 37th Franco-British Summit, where they are set to discuss opportunities to strengthen defence ties. Britain and France are spearheading talks amongst a 30-nation coalition on how to support a possible ceasefire in Ukraine, including potentially deploying peacekeeping forces. The two leaders will dial in to a meeting of the coalition on Thursday "to discuss stepping up support for Ukraine and further increasing pressure on Russia", Starmer's office confirmed on Monday. They will speak to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, according to the French presidency. Irregular migration is also set to feature in talks between Macron and Starmer. The British leader is under intense pressure to curb cross-Channel arrivals, as Eurosceptic Nigel Farage's hard-right Reform UK party uses the issue to fuel its rise. Meanwhile, speculation is rife that Macron will use the visit to announce an update on his previous offer to loan the Bayeux Tapestry to Britain. It emerged in 2018 that he had agreed to loan the embroidery, which depicts the 1066 Norman conquest of England, but the move has since stalled. The UK government said Monday that it continued to "work closely with our counterparts in France on its planned loan".
Yahoo
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
King and Queen roll out red carpet for the Macrons during French state visit
The King and Queen rolled out the red carpet for the President of France Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte in Windsor at the start of the French state visit to the UK. Charles and Camilla warmly greeted the French leader and the first lady on a specially constructed Royal Dais near the town's Windsor and Eton Riverside train station, with the castle in the backdrop. Mr Macron dolled out the Gallic charm by taking Camilla's hand and leaning forward to air kiss it, having earlier greeted the Princess of Wales at RAF Northolt with the same gesture. There were 'la bise' kisses between Mrs Macron and the Queen, and as Mr Macron stood chatting to the King with ease, the president placed his hand on the monarch's back and gave it a few affectionate rubs. The King was sporting a burst blood vessel in his right eye, which is said to have developed overnight and be unrelated to any other health conditions. Nearly 400 military personnel from the Army, RAF and Royal Navy lined the High Street along the ceremonial route and a 41-gun salute sounded in nearby Home Park in Mr Macron's honour to mark his arrival. Amid pomp and ceremony, military bands played both British and French music for the waiting crowds, and a Captain's Escort of the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment, in their plumed helmets and shiny silver breastplates, and riding Irish chargers, formed a Guard of Honour. The Prince and Princess of Wales accompanied the King's guests to the Berkshire town after meeting them at RAF Northolt in west London on Tuesday morning and joining them for the 14-mile car journey. Kate was carrying out the royal duties on Tuesday after opening up about her 'rollercoaster' cancer recovery, its life-changing impact and putting on a 'brave face' last week. She channelled diplomatic royal dressing choosing to wear French fashion house Christian Dior for the celebratory occasion. Her earrings belonged to Diana, Princess of Wales and the pearl necklace was from the late Queen's collection. The Christian Dior jacket is the 30 Montaigne Rose Des Vents Bar Jacket and a piece from the 2024 collection. It was reimagined by Maria Grazia Chiuri, who was inspired by the original first created in 1947 by Dior himself. Kate's hat was by Jess Collett. The Queen was wearing a bright emerald green chiffon dress by Anna Valentine and a hat by Philip Treacy, and an emerald and diamond brooch that belonged to the late Queen. Hundreds of members of the public packed the streets hoping to get a glimpse of the royals and their guests on their carriage ride through the town on their way to Windsor Castle. Mr Macron and the King chatted enthusiastically as Household Cavalry made their way down the road and the open-top carriages arrived. Charles then led Mr Macron into their landau and chuckled as they chatted while taking their seats. The state visit is the first to the UK by an EU head of state since Brexit, and the first to be held at Windsor, rather than Buckingham Palace, for more than a decade, thanks to ongoing refurbishments at the London residence. At a glittering state banquet being staged in the castle's vast medieval St George's Hall on Tuesday evening, the King will stress the vital partnership between France and the UK in the face of a 'multitude of complex threats', declaring 'as friends and as allies, we face them together'. He will highlight how 'these challenges know no borders: no fortress can protect us against them this time'. Mr Macron will address parliamentarians in the Palace of Westminster's Royal Gallery in the afternoon and, on Thursday, join a UK-France Summit at Downing Street. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has signalled a 'reset' in relations between the UK and Europe as he looks to heal the wounds caused by the Brexit years. Defence, growth, security, migration and French tactics on tackling small boats will be discussed, with the two leaders expected to dial in to speak to other allied nations who are looking to support any future peace deal in Ukraine. Downing Street said on Monday that the UK's relationship with France was 'key' to dealing with boat crossings, following reports French police officers had used knives to puncture a boat off the coast.
The Guardian
08-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Macron will enjoy his royal welcome. But the Franco-British relationship remains a love-hate affair
Britain and France are so close that there's a saying in Wimereux, a seafront resort on the north French coast, that if you can see England it's going to rain, and if you can't, it's because it's already raining. Despite – or perhaps because of – that geographical proximity, Europe's two nuclear powers have historically been adversaries as often as friends, and frequently a bit of both. While France lacks a feral press to sustain public contempt for the tribal enemy with the unique talent of the British tabloids, that enduring love-hate relationship is the indelible backdrop to this week's state visit to the UK by President Emmanuel Macron. Even if solidarity and fortitude in the face of Russian aggression and American unreliability is the flavour of the week, the relationship remains an enduring mix of friendship, rivalry, mutual admiration and suspicion. Tellingly, this is the first state visit by a European leader in the nine years since the British people, in their infinite wisdom, voted to leave the European Union. Keir Starmer's cautious effort to repair some of the economic and political damage from that act of self-harm has faced French obstruction on any matter related to closer economic ties, including the totemic issue of fishing rights. As long as Starmer sticks to his red lines of no return to the EU's single market or customs union, and no free movement of people between the continent and Britain, he will face dogged resistance from Paris against any attempt to soften the consequences of Brexit. Both leaders have domestic problems. Macron is a lame duck who cannot seek re-election in 2027 and does not have a parliamentary majority. He regained the power to dissolve the National Assembly this week, but to do so again after last year's fiasco would be a recidivistic suicide. Starmer has only been in office a year and enjoys a giant majority. But he failed last week to force through welfare reforms after a revolt in his Labour party, leaving him with a budget hole and an authority crisis. Both men are constrained by the rise of far-right populist parties that are exploiting public discontent over immigration and identity issues. All the warmth of a royal welcome at Windsor Castle, a horse-drawn carriage parade and a stroll through the restored nature reserve in Windsor Great Park will not move the French president to ease his opposition to any EU special treatment for the UK, despite its strategic importance to Europe in this new age of geopolitical turbulence. In French minds, this is about defending the club that the UK quit, preserving the EU and its prized single market from unravelling and – though Macron would not say this publicly – ensuring that the UK's gamble on prospering outside the union is not successful. It is important to be able to point to British economic losses 'pour encourager les autres', as Voltaire might have said. There will be lots of togetherness on defence at Thursday's political summit, and plenty of talk in Macron's ceremonial address to parliament of the two countries standing together to uphold a rules-based international order (are you listening, Donald?), to support Ukraine (are you listening, Vladimir and Donald?) and to strengthen Europe's defences within Nato (ditto). The UK and France have Europe's most robust armies and strategic cultures, yet both are so hemmed in by debt and welfare costs that they will struggle to meet the Nato pledge they agreed last month to spend 5% of GDP on defence by 2035, of which 3.5% will be devoted to core military outlays. Starmer and Macron will jointly chair a meeting of the 'coalition of the willing' created to give security guarantees to Ukraine, held symbolically at Nato's maritime headquarters in Northwood, outside London. It sends a message of European determination to stand by Ukraine at a time when the US is winding down military support as Russia steps up its war of aggression. US disengagement from European security will be a crucial, if largely unspoken sub-theme to the Franco-British rapprochement on strategic affairs. It's worth paying particularly close attention to what both leaders say about the scope of their nuclear deterrence and the degree to which they consider their vital interests to extend beyond national borders to the rest of Europe. Nuclear doctrine moves by millimetres. Given increasing uncertainty over the reliability of the US nuclear guarantee for Europe in the Trump era, it will be interesting to see whether Starmer and Macron go beyond what a previous generation of British and French leaders declared in 1995, when the then prime minister John Major said: 'The president [Jacques Chirac] and I have concluded that the vital interests of one could not be threatened without the vital interests of the other equally being at risk.' Successive French leaders, while maintaining a degree of strategic ambiguity, have cautiously extended that nuclear doctrine to make clear that France's vital interests reach beyond its borders and 'have a European dimension'. In the light of Trump's equivocation, Macron recently proposed a strategic dialogue with willing European partners on this issue. Ideally, Starmer and Macron would develop the Major-Chirac formula to include an explicit mention of the vital interests of European allies. More likely, they might jointly offer consultations with European partners on nuclear deterrence. That would be another step towards a European defence identity within Nato. Paul Taylor is a senior visiting fellow at the European Policy Centre
The Guardian
08-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Macron will enjoy his royal welcome. But the Franco-British relationship remains a love-hate affair
Britain and France are so close that there's a saying in Wimereux, a seafront resort on the north French coast, that if you can see England it's going to rain, and if you can't, it's because it's already raining. Despite – or perhaps because of – that geographical proximity, Europe's two nuclear powers have historically been adversaries as often as friends, and frequently a bit of both. While France lacks a feral press to sustain public contempt for the tribal enemy with the unique talent of the British tabloids, that enduring love-hate relationship is the indelible backdrop to this week's state visit to the UK by President Emmanuel Macron. Even if solidarity and fortitude in the face of Russian aggression and American unreliability is the flavour of the week, the relationship remains an enduring mix of friendship, rivalry, mutual admiration and suspicion. Tellingly, this is the first state visit by a European leader in the nine years since the British people, in their infinite wisdom, voted to leave the European Union. Keir Starmer's cautious effort to repair some of the economic and political damage from that act of self-harm has faced French obstruction on any matter related to closer economic ties, including the totemic issue of fishing rights. As long as Starmer sticks to his red lines of no return to the EU's single market or customs union, and no free movement of people between the continent and Britain, he will face dogged resistance from Paris against any attempt to soften the consequences of Brexit. Both leaders have domestic problems. Macron is a lame duck who cannot seek re-election in 2027 and does not have a parliamentary majority. He regained the power to dissolve the National Assembly this week, but to do so again after last year's fiasco would be a recidivistic suicide. Starmer has only been in office a year and enjoys a giant majority. But he failed last week to force through welfare reforms after a revolt in his Labour party, leaving him with a budget hole and an authority crisis. Both men are constrained by the rise of far-right populist parties that are exploiting public discontent over immigration and identity issues. All the warmth of a royal welcome at Windsor Castle, a horse-drawn carriage parade and a stroll through the restored nature reserve in Windsor Great Park will not move the French president to ease his opposition to any EU special treatment for the UK, despite its strategic importance to Europe in this new age of geopolitical turbulence. In French minds, this is about defending the club that the UK quit, preserving the EU and its prized single market from unravelling and – though Macron would not say this publicly – ensuring that the UK's gamble on prospering outside the union is not successful. It is important to be able to point to British economic losses 'pour encourager les autres', as Voltaire might have said. There will be lots of togetherness on defence at Thursday's political summit, and plenty of talk in Macron's ceremonial address to parliament of the two countries standing together to uphold a rules-based international order (are you listening, Donald?), to support Ukraine (are you listening, Vladimir and Donald?) and to strengthen Europe's defences within Nato (ditto). The UK and France have Europe's most robust armies and strategic cultures, yet both are so hemmed in by debt and welfare costs that they will struggle to meet the Nato pledge they agreed last month to spend 5% of GDP on defence by 2035, of which 3.5% will be devoted to core military outlays. Starmer and Macron will jointly chair a meeting of the 'coalition of the willing' created to give security guarantees to Ukraine, held symbolically at Nato's maritime headquarters in Northwood, outside London. It sends a message of European determination to stand by Ukraine at a time when the US is winding down military support as Russia steps up its war of aggression. US disengagement from European security will be a crucial, if largely unspoken sub-theme to the Franco-British rapprochement on strategic affairs. It's worth paying particularly close attention to what both leaders say about the scope of their nuclear deterrence and the degree to which they consider their vital interests to extend beyond national borders to the rest of Europe. Nuclear doctrine moves by millimetres. Given increasing uncertainty over the reliability of the US nuclear guarantee for Europe in the Trump era, it will be interesting to see whether Starmer and Macron go beyond what a previous generation of British and French leaders declared in 1995, when the then prime minister John Major said: 'The president [Jacques Chirac] and I have concluded that the vital interests of one could not be threatened without the vital interests of the other equally being at risk.' Successive French leaders, while maintaining a degree of strategic ambiguity, have cautiously extended that nuclear doctrine to make clear that France's vital interests reach beyond its borders and 'have a European dimension'. In the light of Trump's equivocation, Macron recently proposed a strategic dialogue with willing European partners on this issue. Ideally, Starmer and Macron would develop the Major-Chirac formula to include an explicit mention of the vital interests of European allies. More likely, they might jointly offer consultations with European partners on nuclear deterrence. That would be another step towards a European defence identity within Nato. Paul Taylor is a senior visiting fellow at the European Policy Centre
