For his first state visit abroad as sovereign, Charles III will travel to France, from March 26 to 29, as indicated by the French presidency this Friday. The king will meditate at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris before addressing the Senate, a first for a British monarch. He will also travel to Bordeaux in the southwest. Europe 1 returns to the main points of its program, with a strong emphasis on the environment, as unveiled on Friday by Buckingham Palace.
Monday March 27: Paris and Versailles
Arrived Sunday evening in Paris, the king and queen consort Camilla will be welcomed Monday morning by President Emmanuel Macron for a ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe where they will lay a wreath in front of the flame of the unknown soldier. After a moment of contemplation, they will go down the Champs Elysées to the Elysée Palace in a procession with the Republican Guard.
After an interview, the King will proceed to the Senate where he will be the first British sovereign to address the Upper House of Parliament. In 2004, Elizabeth II went to the Senate but spoke in the Conference Room of the Luxembourg Palace. Meanwhile, Camilla and Brigitte Macron will inaugurate the Manet/Degas exhibition which opens to the public the next day at the Musée d’Orsay.
The king and his wife will then visit 19M, a structure launched by Chanel in the north-east of Paris to bring together its crafts houses. They will also visit the Centquatre cultural center in the presence of the mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo. At the British Embassy, the King will meet entrepreneurs active in the ecological transition. The day will end with a banquet at the Palace of Versailles.
Tuesday 28: Bordeaux
The royal couple will travel by train to Bordeaux, a French city which according to Buckingham Palace has the largest concentration of Britons. Charles and Camilla will travel by tram to Place de la Bourse, where the famous water mirror is located on the banks of the Garonne. They will walk to the Hôtel de Ville for a reception with the mayor Pierre Hurmic, with a stop to taste cannelés, small cakes from Bordeaux. They must also inaugurate the new British consulate.
The queen consort will then visit a center for helping families in financial difficulty and the homeless, while the king will visit Landiras, a locality badly affected by the fires last summer. Charles will meet rescue workers as well as participants in forest restoration projects promoting biodiversity.
The couple will visit a sustainable vineyard, identified as Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte in the French press, which produces its solar energy, captures its carbon emissions and manufactures beauty products with waste from winemaking.
Wednesday 29: Paris and Berlin
Returning by train to Paris on Tuesday evening, Charles and Camilla will meet the public on Wednesday morning at the Elizabeth II flower market on the Ile de la Cité in central Paris. It was renamed in the presence of the late sovereign during her last visit in 2014.
The royal couple will then fly to Berlin. In the German capital, they will be welcomed by a ceremony at the Brandenburg Gate, before a banquet at Bellevue Palace, the official residence of President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. They will address the Bundestag on Thursday before a visit to Hamburg, in the north, on Friday to discuss green energy in particular.