French President Emmanuel Macron is in the UK for a state visit, during when he urged Britain to stick close to its neighbours despite Brexit.
He said that France and the UK will “save Europe” by standing for democracy, law and international order in a dangerous world.
The three-day state visit, at the invitation of King Charles III, is the first state visit to the UK by a European Union head of state since Britain acrimoniously left the EU in 2020.
It is a mix of political talks, royal pageantry and also cultural issues. And Macron did not come empty handed in this regard.
The French president came bearing a tantalizing cultural gift: an agreement to send the Bayeux Tapestry to Britain for the first time in more than 900 years.
The 70-meter tapestry showing the Norman conquest of England in 1066 will go on display at the British Museum from September 2026 to July 2027.
The treasured 11th-century artwork depicting the events leading up to the conquest of England by William the Conqueror was believed to have been commissioned by Bishop Odo of Bayeux. It has been displayed in various locations across France, including most recently at the Bayeux Museum in Normandy.
“The Bayeux Tapestry is one of the most iconic pieces of art ever produced in the UK and I am delighted that we will be able to welcome it here in 2026," Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said in a statement.
“This loan is a symbol of our shared history with our friends in France, a relationship built over centuries and one that continues to endure," she added.
In return, the British Museum will loan treasures from the Sutton Hoo collection - artifacts from a 7th century Anglo Saxon ship burial - to museums in Normandy.
The excavation of Sutton Hoo was dramatized in the 2021 film The Dig starring Ralph Fiennes and Carey Mulligan.
Other items to be loaned to France include the Lewis Chessmen, the mysterious medieval chess pieces carved from walrus tusks and whales’ teeth dating from around the 12th century that were discovered on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland.
