King Charles and French President Emmanuel Macron shared a notably warm and extended farewell at Windsor Castle, marking a successful start to the French leader’s state visit.
A clear display of their burgeoning rapport, the two men clasped hands for a remarkable 28 seconds upon their departure, concluding the initial phase of the three-day trip.
Their conversation continued throughout the lengthy handshake, which became particularly poignant as Mr Macron clasped the King's hand with both of his in its final moments.
Earlier the president and his wife had spent a private period laying flowers at the tomb of Queen Elizabeth II who was laid to rest at the King George VI Memorial Chapel within the castle’s St George’s Chapel.
At the Windsor Castle state banquet held in Mr Macron’s honour on Tuesday night the French leader had paid tribute to the late Queen, saying: “To you she was your Queen, to us she was the Queen.”
The last words spoken between the King and his guest was their re-branding of the famous entente cordiale to the “entente amicale” spoken by Charles with Mr Macron replying “thank you, so much”.
They had been joined by Queen Camilla and Brigitte Macron who exchanged goodbye kisses with the men and the foursome posed for a picture before they parted company.
The King and Mr Macron had earlier enjoyed a walk around the castle’s gardens, with Charles showing his guest areas of work on nature restoration and biodiversity.
State visits usually feature an exchange of gifts and Charles presented the president with an oak sapling for the garden of the French residence in London during the tour, a present in response to an oak from Mr Macron gifted during the King’s 2023 state visit to France for the British residence in Paris.
Charles is a keen watercolourist and he gave the president a set of 12 placemats of scenes from Scotland and France he had painted, and a 1931 edition of John Florio’s translation of the works of French Renaissance philosopher Michel de Montaigne.
In return, Mr Macron gave the King a copy of the original piano and vocal score of Pelleas et Melisande by Debussy and a Sennelier watercolour set in an inscribed walnut case.
Other gifts included a trumpet, made by Couesnon, from the cavalry band of the French Republican Guard and a hamper of produce from the Elysee Palace, including honey from the palace beehives.
The two men appeared to be engrossed in the tour as Camilla and Mrs Macron were left waiting for their husbands to view items from the royal mews.
A charabanc carriage, gifted to Queen Victoria by King Louis-Philippe of France in 1844, was waiting at the end of the Long Walk and nearby was a 10-year-old dapple grey horse Fabuleu de Maucour, given by the president to the late Queen in 2022 to mark her Platinum Jubilee.
When the men arrived, kisses were exchanged but, with Camilla due to visit Wimbledon, and the royal couple attending a Buckingham Palace event, the Queen patted Charles, as she has done in the past, in an apparent bid to hurry him along and keep him on schedule.
