By Elizabeth Pineau
PARIS (Reuters) -Britain’s King Charles and his wife, Queen Camilla, will travel to France on Sept. 20-22, the Elysee and Buckingham Palace said on Thursday, after a planned state visit in March was cancelled because of tense protests over a French pension reform.
“This visit is an honour for France, at a time when our country will also host the Rugby World Cup,” the Elysee said in a statement. “It will bear witness to the depth of the historical ties that unite our two countries and our two peoples.”
Buckingham Palace said: “The visit will celebrate the shared history, culture and values of the United Kingdom and France.”
Charles had planned a three-day visit to France in late March in what would have been his first state visit since succeeding his late mother, Queen Elizabeth.
But the visit was cancelled amid social unrest over President Emmanuel Macron’s new pension law.
Instead, Charles visited Germany on his first overseas trip as king.
With the visit now back on the agenda, on Sept. 20-21 Charles and Camilla will meet with President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte in Paris, and they will then travel to the southwestern France city of Bordeaux on Sept. 22.
A source said the programme will be broadly similar to the one that was planned in March.
Macron and Charles – who speaks French – had already met in person before Charles became king, and have also talked over the phone. The Elysee said Charles’ visit to Paris will be an opportunity for the two to talk about the protection of the environment.
(Additional reporting by Michael Holden in London; Writing by Ingrid MelanderEditing by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Sharon Singleton)
