Charles III in France for state visit

VERSAILLES (AFP) — King Charles III on Wednesday issued a call for France and the UK to reinvigorate their relations, as President Emmanuel Macron hosted the British monarch for a glittering banquet at the Palace of Versailles on the first of a three-day state visit.

The visit, which was rescheduled from March due to the violent protests against pension reform that rocked France at the time, aims to showcase Charles’ stature as a statesman just over a year after the death of his mother and predecessor Queen Elizabeth II.

But it also gives both sides a chance to show that the almost 120-year-old Entente Cordiale remains alive and well, despite the sometimes bitter tensions created by Britain’s exit from the EU.

Guests at the dinner included luminaries ranging from 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.

It is “incumbent upon us all to reinvigorate our friendship to ensure it is fit for the challenge of this, the 21st century,” Charles said in a toast.

Although Charles did not directly reference the UK’s divisive departure from the European Union, he mentioned the two countries’ “long and complex history.”

“Our relations have of course not always been entirely straightforward,” he added, in a speech in both English and an accented but clearly-spoken French that impressed his hosts.

But he set out an optimistic vision of the Entente Cordiale, the pact between the two neighbours which was forged in 1904, calling it a “sustainable alliance”.

Macron for his part said that “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 described Charles’ visit as a “tribute to our past… and guarantee of the future.”

The menu included delicacies like blue lobster cooked as a starter by star chef Anne-Sophie Pic, who has said she was inspired by the tastes of the “Sun King” Louis XIV, who built the Palace of Versailles.

Other dinner guests in the glittering Hall of Mirrors included Charlotte Gainsbourg, the actor and daughter of French singer Serge Gainsbourg and British actor Jane Birkin.

In Charles’ speech he paid tribute to Birkin, an English-born actor who became a screen darling in France, describing her as the “most French of the British.”

It was in the Hall of Mirrors that on her first state visit to France in 1957, Elizabeth II lunched with president Rene Coty.

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. Driven down the Champs-Elysees toward their talks at the Elysee Palace earlier, Macron and the king were earlier seen chatting amicably while Camilla and Macron’s wife Brigitte followed behind in a similar vehicle.

After their talks at the Elysee, Charles and Macron walked the short distance to the residence of the British ambassador, pausing to shake hands with well-wishers on the upscale rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honore. Macron is known to have a strong personal rapport with Charles.