PARIS: King Charles III will travel to France for a state visit in September, a French newspaper has reported, six months after a scheduled trip was cancelled because of violent protests.
The planned journey, intended to highlight warming Franco-British relations, had been postponed in March at the last minute as angry mass protests against pension reform shook France.
At the weekend the regional daily Sud-Ouest said that the state visit would now take place in September, and that the monarch and Queen Consort Camilla would visit Paris and Bordeaux in the southwest as originally planned.
The approximate dates are September 20 to 22, the paper said, adding that King Charles’s security detail had come to Bordeaux in July to prepare the visit.
Sud Ouest note that late September is already a very busy time for France because of a scheduled visit by Pope Francis and the Rugby World Cup being hosted by France.
It said there was a chance Prince William could accompany his father and take the opportunity to watch the Wales rugby match against Fiji in Bordeaux.
President Emmanuel Macron’s office, contacted by AFP, declined to comment on the report.
Uproar over legislation to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 was enflamed when Macron exercised a controversial executive power to push the plan through parliament without a vote in March.
The protests at times turned violent, and weeks-long strikes crippled much of French public life.
Macron took the decision to cancel the visit, which would have been King Charles’ first official trip abroad as monarch.
The Elysee palace said the president wished “to welcome His Majesty King Charles III in conditions which reflect our friendly relations”.
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