Nico
Heir Apparent
- Joined
- Jul 6, 2007
- Messages
- 3,104
- City
- Paris
- Country
- France
The State visit to France is confirmed for september. The dates will be known in due course.
The State visit to France is confirmed for september. The dates will be known in due course.
Has it been confirmed by BP, or is this speculation?
Confirmed by BP today :
The King and Queen will undertake a State Visit to France, visiting Paris and Bordeaux, from Wednesday 20th to Friday 22nd September 2023.
https://www.royal.uk/France-state-v...eSoXK0KZAz26BdS6DSx3AIGKb8SMW2V-TqulEc3kE4sxw
For now a State Dinner at Versailles (scheduled back in march) seems unlikely.
Difficult to tell. Lets see when the final schedule is published.
I think Versailles is unlucky and would be a terrible location for a royal state dinner.
Grand Trianon (in the Versailles Garden) has been the place for several State visit receptions and dinners - but if i understood the march-plans correctly, the dinner was planned for the main castle and not Grand Trianon ?
Perhaps the dinner has been moved to Grand Trianon or to the Elysee Palace this time to avoid having to close Versailles for the UK State Visit wich would be a highly controversial move in a republic
The dinner had to be held in the Hall of Mirrors, not less, in the main building.
The Grand Trianon is unavailable due to retoration work.
The Elysee Palace seems, indeed, the best option ( the last State dinner for the Indian PM was held at the Louvre though).
I think Versailles is unlucky and would be a terrible location for a royal state dinner.
I'm hoping for Camilla receiving the Legion of Honour in a female version, wide.
Amazing if the French state is not able to host a dinner at Versailles because of security concerns, if that was indeed their intention.
Didn’t King Baudouin and Queen Fabiola attend a state dinner at Versailles once? I don’t think there has ever been a state dinner in honor of a British monarch there though.
The problems are more about logistic than security : on a closing day ( monday) it's far more easier to set up the table, the various reception rooms etc as some of the work can be done the previous week-end.
On Wednesdays the main castle must be closed for such preparations, with very much outcry from the tourists etc.
The proposed dinner is in late September, the French students will be back at school, and families back at work. I suspect most tourists will be foreign. If the government wanted ot shut the building down for a day, it oeuld not be the end of the world.