Watch: King Charles and Queen Camilla begin state visit to France
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Your support makes all the difference.Watch as King Charles and Queen Camilla arrive in France to begin their postponed state visit on Wednesday 20 September.
The King and Queen will be given a ceremonial welcome at the Arc de Triomphe and a state banquet at the Palace of Versailles.
Charles and Camilla are travelling to Paris and Bordeaux for a three-day trip, six months after it had to be rescheduled because of widespread rioting across the country.
French President Emmanuel Macron issued a poignant welcome ahead of Charles’s arrival, writing on social media: “You visited as a Prince, you return as a King. Your Majesty, welcome.”
Mr Macron shared archive footage of some of the King’s 34 previous official trips to the country as the Prince of Wales, with snippets of addresses he delivered in French.
Later in the week the King will become the first British monarch to give a speech from France’s senate chamber, to senators and national assembly members.
Other highlights include the royal couple meeting sports stars as France hosts the Rugby World Cup.
Today, the King and Queen will join their hosts, Mr Macron and his wife Brigitte, for a ceremony of remembrance and wreath-laying at the Arc de Triomphe in the heart of Paris.
As part of the ceremony, the King will be invited by the president to symbolically light the monument’s eternal flame which burns in memory of those who died in the First and Second World Wars.
Afterwards, the foursome will process down the Champs Elysees by car towards the Elysee Palace, the president’s official residence, where Charles and Mr Macron will sit down for talks.
In the evening, Charles and Camilla will be guests of honour at a grand black-tie state banquet hosted by Mr and Mrs Macron in the splendour of the Palace of Versailles’ Hall of Mirrors.
Both the King and Mr Macron will address the 160 guests, who will include high-profile figures chosen for their contribution to UK-France relations.
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