King Charles’s state visit to France has been ‘postponed’ because of protests

Update: after I wrote up this amazing story, below, Buckingham Palace and President Macron “postponed” the state visit. Per the BBC, “King Charles III’s state visit to France has been postponed, as the nation faces further protests over pension reforms. France’s Elysée Palace said the decision was taken because of a 10th day of protests planned for Tuesday.” Elysee Palace announced the postponement, although they stressed that it was a mutual decision between King Charles and Macron, and that they spoke on the phone this morning. LMAO.

King Charles and Queen Camilla’s state visit to France could not be coming at a worse time. Months in planning and negotiations, and Charles’s first state visit as monarch, and it’s all being spectacularly derailed by French politics and President Emmannuel Macron’s timing with raising the French retirement age. Paris is burning, there are dozens of strikes, garbage is being left in the streets and all of those striking union workers cannot wait to demonstrate in front of the international media during the British monarch’s visit. Add to all of that, the logistics of “who will roll out the literal red carpet” have been affected too.

Unrest in France is tarnishing the sheen of King Charles III’s first overseas trip as monarch, with striking workers refusing to provide red carpets amid pension reform protests and critics calling for the visit to be canceled altogether. Anger over French President Emmanuel Macron’s resolve to increase the retirement age by two years is clouding what was meant to be a show of bonhomie and friendship. Instead, Charles’ visit is being seen as an unnecessary display of hereditary privilege.

“It’s very bad timing. Normally the French would welcome a British king. But in this moment, people protesting are on high alert for any sign of privilege and wealth,” Paris-based writer Stephen Clarke, the author of “Elizabeth II, Queen of Laughs,” said.

With piles of uncollected garbage lining the French capital’s boulevards, observers say the optics could not be worse – for both Charles and his host Macron. French labor union CGT union announced this week that its members at Mobilier National, the institution in charge of providing flags, red carpets and furniture for public buildings, would not help prepare a Sunday reception for the king upon his arrival in Paris.

“We ask our administration to inform the services concerned that we will not provide furnishings, red carpets or flags,” a CGT statement read. The Elysee Palace, the French president’s official residence, has said non-striking workers would set up the necessary accouterments for the trip.

Months in the making, Charles’ March 26-29 trip with Queen Consort Camilla includes a visit to the Musee d’Orsay, a wreath-laying ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe and a lavish dinner at the former royal residence, the Versailles Palace.

“They’re planning on going to Versailles. It does not look good. This seems very 1789,” author Clarke said. The lavish Versailles, once the dazzling center of royal Europe, is a potent symbol of social inequalities and excess.

“It’s amazing. We are going to have Emmanuel Macron, the Republican monarch meeting Charles III while people in the street are demonstrating. Can this really be happening? This is an incredible denial of democracy….Something is happening in this country – is the priority really to receive Charles III at Versailles?” Sandrine Rousseau, a lawmaker from France’s Green Party, told French channel BFM TV. “Of course” the king should cancel his visit, she added.

[From The AP]

As many have pointed out, even with the general strikes, the dinner at Versailles was always going to set the wrong tone. If the Versailles dinner isn’t canceled, the protesters will simply descend on Versailles and it will be a huge security nightmare. There are already rumors – from Macron’s office – that Macron has already shifted the state dinner to Élysée Palace or somewhere else. Like a f–king bunker! Anyway, I absolutely love this for Charles and Camilla. Their first state visit is going to be a huge catastrophe.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.