France welcomes King Charles III with full pomp for state visit

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00:00 Britain's King Charles III will be kicking off a three-day state visit to France.

00:05 The monarch will be accompanied by Queen Camilla.

00:07 The visit was initially planned for March, but was pushed back due to strikes over pension

00:12 reform.

00:13 The couple will be officially welcomed by the French President Emmanuel Macron and the

00:18 First Lady at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris before a state banquet at the Palace of Versailles

00:24 later on today.

00:25 We can go bring in France 24's Philip Turley.

00:30 Philip, talk us through what's happening where you are.

00:31 Well, first of all, Delanno, apologies for not being in vision to talk to you from the

00:37 Arc de Triomphe, but it's due to the fact that we've had to wait a very long time for

00:40 our accreditation to go to the press zone and haven't had time to set up our cameras

00:44 yet.

00:45 But we are at the Arc de Triomphe where King Charles is due to arrive within the next hour

00:49 or so, accompanied, as you said, by Queen Camilla.

00:53 A very packed agenda for the king on this first day of his visit.

00:57 He will be at the Arc de Triomphe where he will be met by President Emmanuel Macron and

01:02 Brigitte Macron, the president's wife.

01:03 They will then light the flame to the Unknown Soldier, which is under the Arc de Triomphe,

01:08 before traveling down the Champs-Élysées in two separate vehicles to greet the crowds

01:14 on either side.

01:16 That part of the visit will then end in the Élysées Palace where King Charles will discuss

01:22 international issues with Emmanuel Macron, probably to include the war in Ukraine, the

01:27 migrant crisis and global warming, which are three issues that the king would like to talk

01:33 to Emmanuel Macron with and about.

01:36 But that's not all for today.

01:37 After that is over, the king will later this afternoon will travel to the Palace of Versailles,

01:42 which is about 30 kilometers outside of Paris, for a dinner in the Galerie de Glace, which

01:49 is the mirror hall on the first floor of the Château de Versailles.

01:53 A lot of pomp and circumstance lined up for King Charles III on this first day of a three-day

01:59 visit to France.

02:00 And Philip, how symbolic is this visit by Charles III to France?

02:08 And is it symbolic for the British and the French public?

02:11 Well, I think that it's definitely symbolic.

02:15 We won't know what the discussions are between Emmanuel Macron and King Charles because there's

02:20 no common press conference, of course, and there will be no statement issued at the end

02:24 of the visit.

02:25 It remains just confidential discussions between the two leaders.

02:30 But the symbolic part is that, as we all know, Britain left the European Union back in 2016.

02:38 Relations between Britain and France have been strained over Brexit and also the migrant

02:42 crisis.

02:43 So this is a way of the British government, which has given, of course, the green light

02:45 to King Charles to come to France.

02:48 This is a way of the British government saying that France is still a friend.

02:52 It is still in close contact with Europe.

02:55 And a visit by King Charles to France is a way of showing that there are no hard feelings

03:00 on the part of the British and that even there may be a move towards closer relations with

03:06 the EU in the future, which is something that we know that Rishi Sunak, the British prime

03:10 minister, is keen to work towards.

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