Over the past century, an English-speaking labrador, a French-speaking Queen and enough fine wine to sink a battleship have helped smooth the Entente Cordiale between the UK and France.
On Tuesday, the latest iteration of the friendship between Britain and its neighbour across La Manche will be highlighted at Windsor Castle when the King welcomes President Macron and his wife, Brigitte.
The Prince and Princess of Wales will meet the Macrons at RAF Northolt at the start of the three-day visit and travel with them to Windsor, where they will join the King and Queen in a carriage procession through the streets.
Gun salutes and a banquet will be held in their honour and the Macrons will be shown a Charabanc carriage from the Royal Mews, given to Queen Victoria by King Louis-Philippe of France in 1844, as well as Fabuleu de Maucour, a horse given to Queen Elizabeth by Macron in 2022 to mark her platinum jubilee.
There will also be an opportunity for the Macrons to pay their respects to the late Queen when they lay flowers on her tomb at St George’s Chapel.
The French guests are understood to be similarly keen to ingratiate themselves to their hosts. A source close to the visit said that the French first lady had asked that she be called “Mrs Macron” rather than “Madame Macron” during her stay.
She is said to get on well with Camilla and they have a shared interest in literacy projects, while the president and the King have found common ground at Cop meetings through a passion for the environment.
Watch: the moment President Macron was “slapped”
With soft power diplomacy at its heart, no one will mention “le slap”, the moment Mrs Macron struck or pushed her husband in the face as they prepared to disembark from a plane in Hanoi in May. Instead, they will be treated like royalty, including an Anglo-French theme to the menu of the state banquet.
Macron, who likes to affect a regal air, is likely to feel right at home. When he campaigned for the French presidency in 2017, he presented himself as the monarch he said France secretly wanted. “In French politics, there is an absence,” he wrote in 2016. “The figure of the king, whose death I fundamentally believe the French people did not want.”
Marc Roche, a French journalist and author who has written several books about the French obsession with the British royal family, said: “There is a fascination in France for British royalty because the French really never recovered from having chopped the head off Louis XVI.
“Macron acts like a king and perhaps even more than a king because he has executive power which the King of England doesn’t have. So the French are fascinated by that.”
In his book Elle ne voulait pas être reine!, Roche, who writes a regular column about the royal family for Le Point magazine, revealed details of the late Queen’s relationship with Macron’s predecessors.
In 1996, President Chirac wanted to do away with the antiquated tradition of a carriage ride before being talked round by his wife, Bernadette. When it came to pass, he was so excited by it that he blew kisses to the crowd from the open-topped carriage as Elizabeth sat next to him looking slightly bemused.
At other times, Gallic relations haven’t been quite as dear.
When Elizabeth went to France in 2014 for the 70th anniversary of D-Day, President Hollande left her waiting. At a dinner at the Élysée Palace, he walked in with the Queen and Prince Philip before promptly disappearing to greet politicians.
The late Queen during her visit to France in 2014 for the 70th anniversary of D-Day
JACQUES BRINON/GETTY IMAGES
Worse still, when Hollande raised his glass to propose a toast, he didn’t take a sip, which prompted accusations that it was a “slur” against the Queen. Roche, who has been a guest at several state dinners, described it as “awkward” and it surprised no one that Hollande was never invited for a state visit to the UK.
Elizabeth and President Hollande
ANWAR HUSSEIN/GETTY IMAGES
Roche said that the Queen’s relationship with President d’Estaing was not as straightforward, although he was impressed by the palace wine selection. On a visit in 1976, he insisted on speaking in English but the Queen could not understand him. She gave him Samba, a labrador from the kennels at Sandringham, saying jokingly: “You know he doesn’t speak French.” D’Estaing duly trained the dog and spent the rest of its life speaking to it in English.
President d’Estaing at the Élysée with his labrador, Samba
JEAN-CLAUDE SAUER/GETTY IMAGES
President Sarkozy, the last French president to be welcomed for a state visit, fared better. He ensured that he had married his girlfriend, Carla Bruni, before they came to Windsor Castle in 2008. Roche said that Bruni was charming, and had a low curtsy. She was impressed by Elizabeth’s French, later saying: “I told my husband ‘you do realise that she speaks our language better than we do’.”
President Sarkozy and Elizabeth in 2008 at Windsor Castle
CARL DE SOUZA/GETTY IMAGES
There was only one problem: during the visit, Elizabeth showed her guests to their room, demonstrating how to turn on the taps in the bathtub. Bruni told Roche: “The water was not very clear.”
For Charles, the relationship with France is deeply personal. Roche said: “As Prince of Wales, Charles came very often to Paris. He was very thankful to help the French, especially what Chirac did when Diana died in Paris. Chirac was very helpful and they organised everything. And so he has a link with France.” It helps that Charles also speaks “perfect French”, which, Roche says, is “even better than his mother’s”.
Elizabeth greeted by President Chirac in Paris in 2004
ERIC FEFERBERG/AP
The King is expected to highlight the history between the countries when speeches are made at the banquet. The first state visit was held by Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle when she hosted Napoleon III in 1855.
The occasion will be a helpful reminder for the future of how to host a state visit at Windsor Castle, which last happened in 2014. When President Trump and the American first lady come to Windsor in September for what he has called a “fest”, it is likely to look different to the Macrons’ visit.
During Trump’s last state visit, his security detail vetoed a public carriage procession down The Mall at Buckingham Palace in London. The challenge this time will be how to offer something with a public spectacle befitting the president, while keeping the Secret Service happy.
In the meantime, the French visit will focus more on intra-governmental measures, rather than a chance to spend time with the royal family. Macron has been invited to address the House of Commons and will have lunch with Sir Keir Starmer and his wife, Lady Starmer.
On the final day, Macron will take part in a UK-France summit at No 10. More than 120 years after the signing of the Entente Cordiale, it will be the moment that tests whether the decades of cross-Channel diplomacy has paid off.