he King Charles III was received in Paris With the splendor of the French Republic: the Arc de Triomphe; celestial fields; Speech in the Senate. Notre Dame; Saint-Denis Church, and at the height of the splendor, a dinner party at the Palace of Versailles.
In the same Hall of Mirrors, where Louis XIV impressed visitors, President Macron’s collaborators tried to recreate something similar on Wednesday night French-British court.
At the table, besides heads of state and women, are countless people Ministers, positions and businessmen, the cream is seasoned by a handful of celebrities: entertainers Mick Jagger and Hugh Grant; former footballer Patrick Vieira, and luxury tycoon Bernard Arnault. It’s all somewhat worn in appearance, as befits royalty.
It seems that only one guest of our century: Actress Charlotte Gainsbourg, fighting the winds of Versailles that blew her Saint Laurent dress with a look of I don’t really know what I’m doing here. However, he symbolizes the issue at hand better than anyone else.
Because Charlotte is the daughter of the Frenchman Serge Gainsbourg and the British woman Jane Birkin; Because the song that made his parents world famous won’t be played at a formal event, however In its title it summarizes centuries of Franco-British relations: “Je t’aime, moi not plus.” (I love you, neither do I).
“Charles III begins his first three-day state visit to France
▪️ A trip of high symbolic content, but of very specific diplomatic interest: consecrating Franco-British friendship after the hostilities unleashed by Brexit
️@adelgadoRnecorrespondent in ������ pic.twitter.com/LTCEjJa2pD“
– National Radio (@rne) September 20, 2023
A visit of specific diplomatic interest
A few countries have it hated more cordially nor loved more suspiciously than these two. The visit of Carlos III, in addition to the feeding of records Paris matchIt had a very specific diplomatic use. Relaunching the Entente Cordiale after the toxic years of Brexit.
“This is the Francophone, French-speaking king He wants to strengthen relations between the two countries. “Brexit has clouded the Franco-British friendship under the tenure of (Prime Ministers) Boris Johnson and Liz Truss,” Professor Sophie Loswarne, a specialist in British history at the University of Amiens, explained to RNE.
It is not the king’s whim. The visit comes in the wake of the path that was opened last March by current Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and President Macron, when celebrating National Day. The first bilateral summit since the painful divorce. A trip by Charles III was initially planned at that time, but was canceled because the street protests of those months in France advised against it.
In the middle, Carlos went to Germany. France could not be his first trip as king, that was the idea. But in gesture politics, intention is what matters. It was the intention Tell the world that the UK and France are friends again. That the United Kingdom has left the European Union, but not the old Europe.
Macron declared this in his prose dinner toast at Versailles: “Despite Brexit, because… What unites us comes from so far away and why are you here today?Yes, Your Majesty, I know that we will continue to write part of our continent’s history together.
The king replied in French:Against wind and seas“.
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