The King has spoken of the deepening co-operation between the UK and France that will protect against “profound challenges” such as terrorism, organised crime and “irregular migration” across the English Channel.
In a speech marking President Emmanuel Macron’s three-day state visit to the UK, Charles highlighted a summit between Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and the French leader when commentators expect the issue of small boats to be top of the agenda.
The King also spoke of the growing environmental threat where the “very future of our planet hangs in the balance” and the UK and France have a “critical role to play”.
Charles’s comments were made at a Windsor Castle state banquet where Sir Mick Jagger and fiancee Melanie Hamrick were among the guests alongside Sir Elton John and husband David Furnish and actress Dame Kristin Scott Thomas.
The King told the guests, who included the Queen, the Prince and Princess of Wales, the Prime Minister and senior members of the Cabinet: “Monsieur le President, the summit that you and the Prime Minister will hold in London this week will deepen our alliance and broaden our partnership still further.
“Our armed forces will co-operate even more closely across the world, including to support Ukraine, as we join together in leading a Coalition of the Willing in defence of liberty and freedom from oppression; in other words, in defence of our shared values.”
He went on to say: “Our security services and police will go further still to protect us against the profound challenges of terrorism, organised crime, cyber attacks and of course irregular migration across the English Channel.
“And our businesses will innovate together, generating growth, trade and investment for our economies and across the world.”
Earlier in a speech to MPs and peers, Mr Macron promised to deliver on measures to cut the number of migrants crossing the English Channel, describing the issue as a “burden” to both countries.
He told the gathering in Parliament: “France and the UK have a shared responsibility to address irregular migration with humanity, solidarity and fairness.”
Decisions at Thursday’s UK-France summit will “respond to our aims for co-operation and tangible results on these major issues”.
In his speech Charles described the UK’s closest continental neighbour as “one of our strongest allies” and said in the face of “complex threats” France and Britain “must help to lead the way”.
There were lighter moments, with the King joking about the popular French cartoon character Asterix the Gaul’s incomprehension about Britons’ love of tea with a splash of milk, and how dinner guests had drunk “English sparkling wine made by a French Champagne house”.
And he described the “perfect combinations” of French and British – Monet’s paintings of London fog and Thierry Henry, a former French striker with London football club Arsenal, scoring at Highbury.
The French president even winked at the King when Charles mentioned the cultural ties between the UK and France and how a Frenchman, William the Conqueror, began building Windsor Castle more than 900 years ago and his son William has made Windsor his home.
The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh and the Princess Royal and her husband Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence were also among the guests, as were former England goalkeeper Mary Earps, who now plays for Paris Saint-Germain, authors Joanne Harris and Sebastian Faulks and sculptor Sir Antony Gormley.
Mr Macron also delivered a speech mostly in French but in English he spoke about France’s loan of the Bayeux Tapestry which will go on display at the British Museum next year.
He said: “For the first time in 900 years the Bayeux Tapestry will follow the same path as the warriors whose stories it tells and land on British soil.
“Either they were never made or they were lost – those final scenes of the tapestry are missing.
“I see that as (an) even more powerful symbol in the great mural of Franco-British history, the end has yet to be written.”
