PARIS: King Charles III is to host French President Emmanuel Macron on a state visit to the UK from July 8 to 10, the French presidency and British monarchy announced, in a new step towards strengthening relations after Brexit.
Macron will also hold talks with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer during the trip, which follows the state visit by Charles to France in September 2023. The state visit to the UK is the first by a French leader in more than 15 years.
Macron and his wife Brigitte will be hosted by the king and Queen Camilla at Windsor Castle outside London where they will stay, Buckingham Palace said.
This visit "will demonstrate the depth of the ties that unite our two countries and our two peoples", the French president's office said.
Charles's state visit to France in 2023 was widely regarded as a success that helped boost relations,
Charles delivered an address to the French parliament in French and attend a glittering state banquet thrown by Macron at the Palace of Versailles.
There were severe political tensions between Paris and London in the immediate aftermath of Brexit under the previous right-wing Conservative British government.
And neither side was able to find a strategy to halt the perilous small boat crossings across the Channel between the countries. But there has been a new warmth in relations under the centre-left Labour government led by Starmer.
The British premier and Macron now lead European efforts to find peace for Ukraine.
The importance of the France-UK relationship was again in evidence at the weekend when Starmer and Macron, joined by new German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, travelled by train to Kyiv for talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The last state visit to the UK by a French leader was in March 2008 when the late queen Elizabeth II, Charles' mother, hosted former president Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy at Windsor Castle.
The UK could be preparing for another high-profile state visit later in the year, with US President Donald Trump saying he expects an invitation for a September state visit.
Trump would become the first political leader to receive a second such invitation to Britain after he visited in 2019 during his first term as president.
However, the fact the visit by Macron takes place before that of Trump is likely to be seen as a sign of the importance London is now placing on relations with Paris. — AFP
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