French President Emmanuel Macron arrives in Britain on July 8 for a state visit mixing royal pageantry with thorny political talks about stopping migrants from crossing the English Channel in small boats, EDnews reports, citing AP.
Macron and Prime Minister Keir Starmer will also try to advance plans for a post-ceasefire security force for Ukraine, despite apparent US indifference to the idea and Russia’s refusal to halt the onslaught on its neighbor.
Macron’s three-day visit, at the invitation of King Charles III, is the first state visit to the UK by a European Union head of state since Brexit, and a symbol of the British government’s desire to reset relations with the bloc that the UK acrimoniously left in 2020.
The president and his wife, Brigitte Macron, will be driven to Windsor Castle by horse-drawn carriage, greeted by a military honor guard and treated to a state banquet hosted by the king and Queen Camilla. The British royals made a state visit to France in September 2023.
