The royals' French connection
In this month's The Royal Archive, Millie looks at French state visits over the years
Hello, Royal Clubbers, it’s Millie here, bringing you this month’s edition of The Royal Archive.
We all watched on riveted last week as the President and First Lady of France, Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron, enjoyed all that British pomp and ceremony has to offer as they were welcomed earlier this month to the UK for the first state visit from France in 17 years.
The visit heralded greater diplomatic closeness between France and the UK, emphasised by King Charles in his speech: "Our two countries face a multitude of complex threats, emanating from multiple directions. As friends and as allies, we face them together. These challenges know no borders: no fortress can protect us against them this time.
"Our two nations share not only values, but also the tireless determination to act on them in the world."
Brigitte and Emmanuel were treated to a state banquet, a carriage procession through Windsor, and a visit to Westminster Abbey to see the Grave of the Unknown Warrior (get all the French state visit hidden details here).
Of course, my favourite moment had to be the state banquet as I do love to see royals in their finery. It got me thinking about the long history between France and the UK, and the tradition of state visits going back hundreds of years.
Read on to see astonishing archival photos and beautiful paintings, and to discover an extraordinary linguistic misunderstanding that befell one French president’s wife which certainly left me blushing…