King Charles III heads to France for state visit

PARIS: France rolls out the red carpet for British head of state King Charles III on Wednesday, as he begins a rescheduled three-day visit aimed at showing the fundamentals of the cross-Channel alliance remain strong despite a litany of political tensions after Brexit.

The trip initially planned for March, which was to have been Charles’ first state visit abroad since becoming monarch on the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth II, was shelved due to widespread rioting and strikes across France against pension reforms.

But the original packed itinerary in the capital Paris and the southwestern city of Bordeaux is largely unchanged.

After landing in Paris, the king and his wife Queen Camilla will receive a ceremonial welcome from French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte at the Arc de Triomphe monument in central Paris, where they will lay wreaths to the countries’ war dead.

The Macrons will in the evening host the royal couple at a sumptuous state banquet at Versailles, the palace west of the capital synonymous with French royalty — and the bloody republican revolution of 1789.

The French president, who has dealt with no fewer than four UK premiers over the last half-decade during a period of political turbulence in Britain, is known to have a strong personal rapport with Charles.

The Macrons were at both the state funeral for Elizabeth II last September and Charles’ coronation in May this year.

Many of the engagements on the trip reflect Charles’ lifelong interest in the environment, sustainability and biodiversity, as well as promoting young entrepreneurs and community.

But it is also designed to promote Charles beyond British shores, as he continues his transition from a sometimes outspoken heir to the throne to monarch.

“This is King Charles, who was only just over a year ago still Prince Charles, putting himself on the international stage as a leading public figure,” said Ed Owen, a royal historian and author.

“We know that he’s going to address things including his concerns around climate and environment, so he’s playing to the crowd in that respect, but doing so on his own terms,” he told AFP.

In the last year Charles, 74, has sought to cement his position at home as the new monarch, with an emphasis on continuity rather than radical reform.

As such, 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, at one end of the sweeping Champs-Elysees avenue, was the location for her ceremonial arrival on her last state visit in 2014.

On the first, in 1957, she dined 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.