On Wednesday, King Charles III issued a call for France and the UK to reinvigorate their relations. President Emmanuel Macron hosted the British monarch for a glittering banquet at the Palace of Versailles on the first day of a three-day state visit.
Charles aims to showcase his stature as a statesman during the visit, which was rescheduled from March due to the violent protests against pension reform that rocked France at the time. This comes just over a year after the death of his mother and predecessor, Queen Elizabeth II.
But it also allows both sides to demonstrate that they are keeping the almost 120-year-old Entente Cordiale alive and well, despite the sometimes bitter tensions caused by Britain’s exit from the EU.
The dinner included guests such as the British rock legend Mick Jagger, the French former manager of the Arsenal football team Arsene Wenger, actor Hugh Grant, and the French luxury goods billionaire Bernard Arnault.
Charles said in a toast, “We all have a responsibility to reinvigorate our friendship to ensure it is fit for the challenge of this, the 21st century.”
Although Charles did not directly reference the UK’s divisive departure from the European Union, he mentioned the two countries’ “long and complex history”.
He added in a speech, impressing his hosts, that our relations have not always been entirely straightforward. He spoke in both English and an accented but clearly-spoken French.
But he outlined an optimistic vision of the Entente Cordiale, the pact between the two neighbours that they forged in 1904, referring to it as a “sustainable alliance.”
Macron, for his part, stated, “Despite Brexit… I know, your majesty, that we will continue to write part of the future of our continent together, to meet the challenges and to serve the causes we have in common.”
He called Charles’ visit a “tribute to our past… and guarantee of the future”.
Star chef Anne-Sophie Pic cooked the blue lobster as a starter on the menu, drawing inspiration from the tastes of the “Sun King” Louis XIV, who built the Palace of Versailles.
Charlotte Gainsbourg, the actor and daughter of French singer Serge Gainsbourg and British actor Jane Birkin, also attended the dinner in the glittering Hall of Mirrors.
Charles paid tribute to Birkin in his speech. He described her as the “most French of the British” and highlighted her success as an English-born actor who became a screen darling in France.
Elizabeth II lunched with President Rene Coty in the Hall of Mirrors during her first state visit to France in 1957.
The visit is filled with reminders of the late queen, a French-speaking francophile who made five state visits to France during her record-breaking 70-year reign.
