{"id":211699,"date":"2026-09-02T15:25:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T15:25:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/211699\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T15:25:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T15:25:15","slug":"macron-to-begin-u-k-visit-with-visit-to-bayeux-tapestry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/211699\/","title":{"rendered":"Macron to begin U.K. visit with visit to Bayeux Tapestry"},"content":{"rendered":"

French President Emmanuel Macron begins a two-day visit to Britain on Wednesday, viewing the landmark Bayeux Tapestry exhibition with King Charles III and becoming the first EU leader to be hosted by Prime Minister Andy Burnham.<\/p>\n

Charles and Queen Camilla are set to join Macron and his wife Brigitte later Wednesday to view the tapestry, which depicts the Norman conquest of England in 1066. The work, on display to the public from next week at the British Museum, has not left France since it was made nearly 1,000 years ago.<\/p>\n

The two couples will be joined by Burnham and his wife Marie-France van Heel at the exhibition, the culmination of years of diplomacy and viewed as another step towards healing the rancour of the Brexit years.<\/p>\n

The French president has been instrumental over recent years in championing the daring gambit to loan the medieval tapestry depicting the Norman conquest of England to the British Museum. It will be on display there until next July.<\/p>\n

\"\"Britain’s King Charles III and France’s President Emmanuel Macron, right, travel in a 1902 State Landau on a state drive to Windsor Castle in Windsor, England, Tuesday July 8, 2025, on the first day of a three-day state visit to Britain. (Chris Jacks… Britain’s King Charles III and France’s President Emmanuel Macron, right, travel in a 1902 State Landau on a state drive to Windsor Castle in Windsor, England, Tuesday July 8, 2025, on the first day of a three-day state visit to Britain. (Chris Jackson\/Pool via AP) <\/p>\n

Meanwhile Burnham will be looking for concrete outcomes when he holds talks with Macron on Thursday, eyeing closer post-Brexit cooperation with the European Union.<\/p>\n

The British leader — who replaced predecessor Keir Starmer in July — has vowed to boost sluggish U.K. growth and keep pushing France for help stopping migrants crossing the Channel to Britain on small boats.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe loaning of the tapestry is a great example of French-British cooperation — the same cooperation that has helped us reduce summer small boat crossings to a seven-year low,\u201d Burnham told parliament on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The U.K. leader has largely focused on domestic policy since taking over, but has maintained London\u2019s support for Ukraine in its war with Russia.<\/p>\n

\u2018Just as important\u2019<\/p>\n

Anand Menon, professor of European politics and foreign affairs at Kings College London, warned there was a danger the visit would be \u201cstyle without substance\u201d even though Britain and France can appear \u201cbest buddies\u201d on non-EU business like Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Macron and Starmer enjoyed good ties and adopted lead roles in a so-called Coalition of the Willing of nations supporting Ukraine.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe president had developed with prime minister Starmer a very friendly and highly effective relationship, particularly on Ukraine and the Middle East,\u201d a French presidential official said, asking not to be named.<\/p>\n

\"\"Leaders Meet For The European Political Community Summit King Charles III and Emmanuel Macron in Woodstock, on July 18. <\/p>\n

Coordination with Burnham was expected to be \u201cjust as important and regular\u201d, added the official.<\/p>\n

For Macron, who will arrive from a trip to the Netherlands, the visit will also be significant as he approaches the final months of his presidential term.<\/p>\n

The French leader remains eager to press his vision of European sovereignty not dependent on the United States — and the UK is seen as having a crucial role to play even after Brexit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"French President Emmanuel Macron begins a two-day visit to Britain on Wednesday, viewing the landmark Bayeux Tapestry exhibition…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":211700,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[125],"tags":[9917,242],"class_list":["post-211699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-emmanuel-macron","tag-apple-news","tag-emmanuel-macron"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@people\/117202146126222295","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}