" The First
Royal State
Visit
Victim of Civil Unrest ".
The tone of the British daily
The Daily Telegraph
is slightly disillusioned this Saturday.
In the United Kingdom, the visit of King Charles III to France scheduled for March 26 and 27, was expected, six years after the Brexit vote, as a sign of warming relations with Europe.
Faced with scenes of chaos on the sidelines of the demonstrations against the pension reform, the Élysée finally canceled the invitation.
"
A frustrating setback in the
reborn
entente cordiale
", adds
The Independent
, evoking "
a disappointment (...) for all concerned
".
While Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has multiplied efforts in recent months to improve relations between the United Kingdom and the European Union, the centre-left and pro-European daily considers it "really a shame that the continuation of the
demonstrations violence against the pension reform was considered too great a risk to the safety of the king and Camilla
".
The Financial Times, The Independent and The Times.
British press.
“Chaos Reigns”
The British press does not mince words about the social crisis in France.
“
France falls into chaos
”, headlines
The Daily Telegraph,
then elaborates in its pages
:
“
The prospect of the embattled Mr Macron dining alongside the king during a black-tie banquet at the Palace of Versailles in full escalation of the revolt had become increasingly untenable, with commentators suggesting that this would have been her "Marie Antoinette moment"
.
“
Royal retirement
”, headlines The Times in turn
.
Despite the hint of irony, the center-right daily is understanding of the delicate position of Emmanuel Macron, caught between the risk of giving in to the demonstrators and the guarantee of the safety of the King of England.
The conservative
Daily Mail
is less sympathetic towards the French head of state, and titles in One, ruthless: "
Macron capitulates in front of the crowd
".
And to evoke a "
humiliated
" head of state, believing that Charles III would not have been afraid to cross the Channel "
to show that we cannot give in to the crowd
"...
"Embarrassing"
Be that as it may, the British press is unanimous: the "
brutal postponement
" of this trip is "
extremely embarrassing
" (
The Daily Telegraph
) for Emmanuel Macron, who had officially invited Charles III during his stay in London to the Queen's funeral last September.
“
The coaster was embarrassing for Macron, but it was decided that it was better than seeing a state visit turn into a fiasco
” (
The Times)
.
If many are worried about certain graffiti inscribed on the Parisian walls, from "
death to the king
" to "
Charles III, do you know the guillotine?"
“,
The Independent,
however, sees a more trivial explanation for the French reversal.
“
Apparently the service workers responsible for, literally, rolling out the red carpet will be on strike, and the King and Queen may not have been properly greeted and attended to in the style one would expect of the elegant cradle of haute cuisine.
Things were about to become simply unachievable
.”
For its part, the press in Germany, where King Charles is expected from Wednesday, commented little or not on the news.
Simply the daily
Süddeutsche Zeitung
borrows a tone of light mockery to lament that “
it could have been so beautiful.
King Charles and King Emmanuel (...) reunited in the city of love, lights and "Emily in Paris"
.
