The postponement of Charles III's state visit to Paris due to the announcement of a new national day of action on March 28 against pension reform is a blow to the operation to revive the Entente cordiale post-Brexit, which this trip was to symbolize. If the announcement was made jointly by the Élysée and Buckingham Palace, it was France who asked London to postpone the first journey of the new sovereign abroad, according to a press release from 10 Downing Street.
This decision by Paris is a severe blow to the image of France in the United Kingdom. First of all, such a postponement is a first in the history of official travel by British monarchs abroad. Since its announcement with great fanfare, the Franco-German tour had mobilized the resources of the Palace as of the British Embassy in France. A record number of king's advisers had carried out the reconnaissance mission ("recce" in the jargon).
Seen from the United Kingdom, the French decision is incomprehensible. As a journalist accredited to the court, who should have covered the visit, pointed out to Le Point, “British royalty never gives up in the face of the mob. We carry on as if nothing had happened." Let's bet that instead of celebrating the revival of the Entente Cordiale, the British press will once again be able to indulge in its favorite hobby, the "French bashing" ("French denigration") by denouncing the pusillanimity of the President of the Republic .
Why not keep moving to Paris even if it means making security adjustments and sacrificing Bordeaux? ask the tabloids. The Daily Mail, the first circulation of the popular press, sets the tone for tomorrow's editorials by evoking "a humiliation for Emmanuel Macron and for France".
Two recent examples illustrate the determination of members of the royal family to continue an official visit as if nothing in the face of threats of demonstrations or terrorist threats. In 1979, during the Commonwealth meeting which was to be held in Lusaka (Zambia), Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher wanted to cancel the visit of the Queen for fear of an assassination attempt in the climate of civil war which raged in the United States. very gates of the capital.
Preparations for the trip had been chaotic and rumors of a coup d'etat had swirled around the Foreign Office. But the queen had overruled her head of government's "urgent advice" to cancel her visit. She had gone there not only accompanied by her husband but also by her favorite son, Andrew.
On an official visit to Sri Lanka in 1998, Prince Charles had continued his stay despite several bomb attacks in areas where he was to go.
The disappointment is all the greater at Buckingham Palace because, despite his Francophilia, the King, President of the Commonwealth, would have preferred to make his first official trip abroad to the large Overseas family.
Finally, even if he speaks fluent German, Charles III hardly has any chemistry with the homeland of his ancestors Hanover-Saxe-Coburg. The trip to Berlin is not worth a visit to France, where he has already been thirty-four times. It remains to set a new date for his arrival in France. The agenda is already very full. He must go to the United States and the Commonwealth beforehand. The general opinion, London could rather invite Emmanuel Macron on an official visit to the United Kingdom. He is, with François Hollande, the only president of the Fifth Republic not to have been entitled to this honor.
