The first State visit to France by Britain’s King Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla has been postponed due to continuing civil unrest.
The statement was made by the office of French Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron on Friday morning, following a week of strike action that drew a million people to the streets in protest of the government’s plans to reform pensions.
“Given yesterday’s announcement of a new general strike against pension reform next Tuesday (March 28), King Charles III’s visit – originally scheduled between March 26 and March 29 in our country – will be postponed,” Macron’s office said in a statement.
The first State visit to France by Britain’s King Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla has been postponed due to continuing civil unrest.
The statement was made by the office of French Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron on Friday morning, following a week of strike action that drew a million people to the streets in protest of the government’s plans to reform pensions.
“Given yesterday’s announcement of a new general strike against pension reform next Tuesday (March 28), King Charles III’s visit – originally scheduled between March 26 and March 29 in our country – will be postponed,” Macron’s office said in a statement.
French ministers apparently caught out by announcement
The announcement that the visit of King Charles would be postponed apparently caught French ministers by surprise.
Earlier Friday morning, France’s Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said the country “will be ready to welcome in excellent conditions”, despite mobilising thousands of security forces for the four-day visit.
“For Paris, to allow King Charles to do everything that France must allow him to do, there are 4,000 police and gendarmes mobilised in particular for the descent of the Champs-Elysées and for his visits to the French”, Darmanin on television.
King Charles and Queen Consort Camilla had been scheduled to to attend a lavish state banquet hosted by Macron at the opulent Palace of Versaille on the outskirts of Paris.