According to reports, the state visit to France by King Charles III that has been postponed due to violent “blood and fire” protests will take place next month, at the same time as the Pope.
French ministerial sources reported on Monday that the King and Queen Camila will arrive in Paris around September 23 and 24.
This is also the weekend that Pope Francis is expected to be in the southern city of Marseille, to be greeted by millions of French Roman Catholics.
The Rugby World Cup will also take place in the major French cities at the time, with all the major British teams involved, including England.
Charles and Camilla will first be received by President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte Macron, in the French capital, before traveling to the southwestern city of Bordeaux, the sources said.
The state visit to France by King Charles III that was postponed due to violent “blood and fire” protests will finally take place next month, at the same time as the Pope.
A protester throws a trash can on fire during a demonstration after the government pushed a pension reform through parliament without a vote on March 28.
French ministerial sources reported on Monday that the King and Queen Camila will arrive in Paris around September 23 and 24. This is also the weekend that Pope Francis (pictured August 9) is expected to be in the southern city of Marseille, to be greeted by millions of French Roman Catholics.
“After an official reception at the Elysee Palace, following a dinner at the Palace of Versailles, the royal couple will visit Bordeaux,” the government source told various media.
He said ‘British security services’ had cleared both towns after ‘scouting during the month of July’.
They reported that France has largely succeeded in quelling nationwide riots that brought a planned four-day royal state visit to a halt in March and was expected to climax a state banquet in Versailles.
A Buckingham Palace spokesman said he would not comment on Charles and Camilla’s expected state visit and that any visit will be officially announced by the Palace.
Gerald Darmanin, France’s interior minister, warned at the time of the March riots that “fire and blood protests” threatened the British head of state.
Expected attacks included one by trade unionists in Bordeaux and by a mob of revolutionaries in Versailles given the castle’s links to the 1789 Revolution and France’s last King Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette, who were guillotined in 1793.
Graffiti appearing in Paris at the time included a depiction of a guillotine scrawled alongside the words “Death to the King”.
The protest movement was the biggest internal crisis of President Macron’s second term, and strikes against planned pension reform also hit refineries, garbage collection, rail transport, air travel and schools.
There was particular anger from leftist groups over the banquet at Versailles.
Riot police are hit by fireworks during violent clashes over the government’s pension reform on March 23. King Charles’ status was canceled at that time out of fear for his safety.
Protesters march, with the Panthéon monument in the background, during a demonstration in Paris on March 7 for pension reform.
They noted that France is now one of the most famous republics in the world, having beheaded its last legitimate monarchs: Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette.
The postponement was a great humiliation for Macron, especially as a visit to Germany by the royals took place.
Eric Ciotti, leader of France’s opposition Republican Party, called the chaotic security situation a national shame.
“What an image of our country, which is not even capable of guaranteeing the security of a head of state,” Ciotti said at the time.
There were also serious riots in France last month, following the alleged illegal murder by a Paris police officer of a Franco-Algerian teenager, but those riots, too, have ended.
Queen Elizabeth II, Charles’s late mother, loved France and made six state visits to the country, including five to Paris.
Her Majesty spoke French well and it is known that she passed on her Francophilia to her son.
