Charles III and his wife Camilla will visit France from Wednesday 20 to Friday 22 France. Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron will walk down the Champs-Élysées on Wednesday with the royal couple, and will give a state dinner in their honor in the prestigious Hall of Mirrors at the Château de Versailles, according to the program provided by the Élysée. Shortly before 3 p.m., the royal couple will travel to the Arc de Triomphe for a ceremony to rekindle the flame and lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
At the end, the king and the president will descend the Champs-Élysées in a vehicle marked French Republic, the queen and Brigitte Macron in another. The two leaders will then go to the Élysée Palace for a face-to-face meeting which will focus on biodiversity, the climate, the summit on artificial intelligence scheduled for November in the United Kingdom as well as the situation in Sahel and Ukraine.
The two couples will join the Palace of Versailles in the evening for a state dinner in the form of a “nod to Queen Elizabeth II” who herself had visited there on several occasions, said the Élysée. The Queen and Prince Philip had lunch at the Hall of Mirrors, at the invitation of President René Coty, during their first state visit to France in 1957.
The sovereign visited Versailles again in 1972, describing “an enchanting mixture of what is both similar and different in our two countries.” Very popular with General de Gaulle for major state visits at the start of the Fifth Republic, the Palace of Versailles became more discreet during the last five years, until Emmanuel Macron.
The current head of state once again made it a leading diplomatic calling card by welcoming Russian President Vladimir Putin there in May 2017 and the Crown Prince of Japan in September 2018. He also organized a European summit there in March 2022.
Charles III is “sensitive to the idea that he can follow in the footsteps of his mother”, noted the Élysée, which also sees in the choice of Versailles an opportunity to “make France shine” through one of its most famous places in the world.
The Hall of Mirrors, an emblematic part of the castle, is a grand ceremonial gallery in Baroque style, originally intended to illustrate the power of the absolute monarch Louis XIV and to dazzle its visitors. 73 meters long, it is covered with 357 pieces of ice. Between 150 and 180 guests will be invited to the dinner on Monday, the presidency added. Musical entertainment will be offered to them by the Swedish violinist Daniel Lozakovich.
Thursday, Emmanuel Macron and Charles III will visit the restoration site of Notre-Dame Cathedral and will close a sequence on climate and biodiversity at the Natural History Museum in the presence of economic players.
Camilla and Brigitte Macron will launch the Franco-British literary prize at the National Library. It will be awarded for the first time in 2024. They will also go to Saint-Denis, north of Paris, as well as to 19M, an arts and crafts center founded by the house of Chanel in the 19th arrondissement of the capital.
