A lavish state banquet for the King in Versailles would have been a 'bad idea' while pensions protests are going on - leaving France with no option but to cancel the trip
Lord Ricketts, who was the UK’s ambassador to France during the Queen’s final state visit to the country in 2014, told BBC Radio 4’sprogramme: “I think when the state visit was planned, it was going to be the culmination of a period of real improvement in UK-French relations, marked by the summit between Rishi Sunak and Macron a couple of weeks ago.
“It was a good sequence after the visit of the Prime Minister and the rapprochement with France, the new entente cordiale. In a statement n Friday, the Élysée said the royal visit had been postponed following a telephone conversation between President Emmanuel Macron and King Charles. Buckingham Palace said the King and Queen Consort “greatly look forward to the opportunity to visit France as soon as dates can be found”.
The first state visit for the King will now be Germany, where he will be hosted from Wednesday and is expected to address the Bundestag before making a trip to Hamburg. The state visit was also viewed by the Élysée as part of a wider effort to “open a new chapter” in the Anglo-French relationship, following the signing of the new Brexit deal for Northern Ireland and the recent UK-France summit earlier this month.
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