King Charles III’s state visit to France has been postponed indefinitely amid widespread protests over President Emmanuel Macron’s pension reforms, putting a damper on the new monarch’s debut on the international stage.
The trip was scheduled to start with the King and the Queen Consort’s arrival at France on Sunday, March 26, 2023.
The original six-day visit to France and Germany, the two biggest countries in the European Union, was designed to highlight efforts to rebuild relations between Britain and its neighbors after six years of squabbling over Brexit.
However, the prospect of King Charles III being confronted by protesters and piles of garbage in the streets of Paris forced officials in France and Britain to reconsider their plans.
King Charles and his wife, Camilla, the Queen Consort, will still travel to Germany on Wednesday, March 29, 2023, in what was scheduled to be the second leg of his first overseas trip since ascending the throne in September.
“The King and Queen consort’s state visit to France has been postponed,” British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak’s office disclosed in a statement.
“This decision was taken with the consent of all parties, after the President of France asked the British government to postpone the visit,” the statement noted.
Buckingham Palace said another date would be found. “Their Majesties greatly look forward to the opportunity to visit France as soon as dates can be found,″ the palace said in a statement.
French labor unions have called for a day of nationwide protests and strikes on Tuesday, March 28, 2023, in protest at Macron’s proposal to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. That is the day when the king had been due to travel to the western city of Bordeaux, with much ceremony and the high levels of security, and the protests would have complicated his travel.
Charles and Camilla will now start their first state visit on Wednesday in Germany, where they will be welcomed with military honors by President Frank-Walter Steinmeier at Berlin’s landmark Brandenburg Gate.
On Thursday, March 30, 2023, the British King is set to give a speech to the Bundestag, meet German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and talk to Ukrainian refugees and military.
King Charles will go to Hamburg on Friday, where he will visit the Kindertransport memorial for Jewish children who fled from Germany to Britain during the Third Reich, and attend a green energy event before returning to the UK in the evening.
Common Sense Required Delaying King Charles’ Visit
French President Emmanuel Macron averred that “common sense and friendship” required delaying the king’s visit, adding that it likely would have become a protest target and created a “detestable situation.”
“We would not be serious … to make a state visit in the middle of protests,” the French leader disclosed, speaking at a news conference after a summit in Brussels.
Macron condemned the violent behavior that has taken place at some of the protests against his plan to raise France’s retirement age from 62 to 64, saying “violence has no place in a democracy.”
King Charles had been scheduled to visit the city of Bordeaux on the second day of his trip to France. Unfortunately, the heavy wooden door of the elegant Bordeaux City Hall was destroyed by fire on Thursday, March 23, 2023 night by people taking part in an unauthorized demonstration.
Mayor Pierre Hurmic opined that he had “difficulty understanding the interest of such acts of vandalism.” Before the King’s visit was postponed, Hurmic remarked that he hoped it would not get canceled.
“I hope that we do not give this gift to the thugs,” he said.
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