King Charles will finally go to France after protests caused delay

King Charles will finally go to France after violent protests caused delay… and will be there while the Pope also visits and Rugby World Cup is underway

• King Charles and Queen Camilla will arrive in Paris next month for state visit
• Pope Francis will be in the southern city of Marseille on the same weekend 

The state visit to France by King Charles III that was postponed because of ‘blood and fire’ violent protests is finally set to go ahead next month – at the same time as the Pope.

French ministerial sources on Monday reported that the King and Queen Camilla will arrive in Paris around September 23rd to 24th.

This is also the weekend when Pope Francis is expected in the southern city of Marseille, to be greeted by millions of French Roman Catholics.

The Rugby World Cup will also be taking place in major French cities at the time, with all major British sides involved, including England.

Charles and Camilla will first be greeted by President Emmanuel Macron, and his wife, Brigitte Macron, in the French capital, before travelling to the south west city of Bordeaux.

The state visit to France by King Charles III that was postponed because of ‘blood and fire’ violent protests is finally set to go ahead next month – at the same time as the Pope

A protester kicks a bin into a fire during a demonstration after the government pushed a pensions reform through parliament without a vote on March 28

French ministerial sources on Monday reported that the King and Queen Camilla will arrive in Paris around September 23rd to 24th. This is also the weekend when Pope Francis (pictured on 9 August) is expected in the southern city of Marseille, to be greeted by millions of French Roman Catholics

‘After an official reception at the Élysée Palace, then a dinner at the Palace of Versailles, the royal couple will visit Bordeaux,’ the government source told multiple outlets.

He said ‘the British security services’ had cleared both cities after ‘scouting during the month of July.’

They reported that France has largely managed to quell the nationwide rioting that dramatically stopped a planned four-day Royal state visit in March with the highlight expected to have been a state banquet at Versailles. 

Gerald Darmanin, France’s Interior Minister, warned at the time that ‘blood and fire protests’ threatened Britain’s head of state.

Intended attacks included one by trade unionists in Bordeaux and by a crowd of revolutionaries in Versailles given the chateau’s links to the 1789 Revolution and the last king of France Louis XVI and his wife Marie-Antoinette, who were guillotined in 1793.

Graffiti that appeared in Paris at the time included a depiction of a guillotine scrawled alongside the words ‘Death to the King’.

The protest movement was the biggest domestic crisis of President Macron’s second term, with the strikes against planned pension reform also affecting refineries, bin collections, rail transport, air travel and schools.

There was particular anger by left-wing groups about the banquet at Versailles.

Riot police are struck by fireworks during violent clashes over the government’s reform of the pension system on March 23. King Charles’ state was cancelled at the time over fears for his safety 

Protesters march, with the Pantheon monument in background, during a demonstration in Paris, on March 7 over the pension reforms

They pointed out that France is now one of the most famous republics in the world, having decapitated its last legitimate monarchs – Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette.

The postponement was a major humiliation for Mr Macron, especially as a visit to Germany by the Royals went ahead.

Eric Ciotti, leader of the opposition Republicans party in France, said the chaotic security situation was a national embarrassment.

‘What an image for our country, which is not even able to ensure the security of a head of state,’ Mr Ciotti said at the time.

There was also severe rioting across France last month, following the alleged illegal killing by a Paris policeman of a French-Algerian teenager, but those disturbances have also ended.

Queen Elizabeth II, Charles’s late mother, loved France, and paid six state visits to country, including five to Paris.

Her Majesty spoke good French and is known to have passed on her Francophilia to her son.

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