French State Visit to the UK, 8th to 10th july 2025.

[Nico]

Just announced :

The President of the French Republic, His Excellency Emmanuel Macron, accompanied by Mrs Brigitte Macron, has accepted an invitation from His Majesty The King to pay a State Visit to the United Kingdom from Tuesday 8th July to Thursday 10th July 2025. Their Majesties The King and Queen will host the President and Mrs Macron at Windsor Castle.

The last French State visit was in 2007 with President Sarkozy, also hosted at Windsor.

Some previous French State visits to the UK :

2008 : President Sarkozy.
2004 : President Chirac (special "Entente Cordiale" visit at Windsor).
1996 : President Chirac.
1984 : President Mitterrand.
1976 : President Giscard d'Estaing.
1960 : President de Gaulle.
1950 : President Auriol.
1939 : President Lebrun.

It was rumoured that a State visit was considered back in june 2020 but axed due to Covid.

 

[iceflower]

Here's the official announcement:

The Royal Family on Instagram: "🇫🇷🇬🇧 The President of the French Republic, His Excellency Emmanuel Macron, accompanied by Mrs Brigitte Macron, has accepted an invitation from His Majesty The King to pay a State Visit to the United Kingdom from Tuesda

5,570 likes, 61 comments - theroyalfamily on May 13, 2025: "🇫🇷🇬🇧 The President of the French Republic, His Excellency Emmanuel Macron, accompanied by Mrs Brigitte Macron, has accepted an invitation from His Majesty The King to pay a State Visit to the United Kingdom from Tuesday 8th July to...

www.instagram.com

https://twitter.com/x/status/1922200210714849437

 

[muriel]

Look forward to the July state visit!

 

[An Ard Ri]

As there's ongoing restoration at Buckingham Palace ,the French President and Mrs Macron will stay at Windsor Castle .
King Charles opens doors to special guests for first time in 17 years

 

[doro]

Will William and Kate finally receive their first foreign Order?

 

[Hans-Rickard]

Will William and Kate finally receive their first foreign Order?

Maybe… Charles recived the Legion of Honour in 1984 and Camilla recived the Order of National Merit in 2014…

But it is up to President Macron to decide. All presidents handles this differently…. As Brigitte Macron will likely recive no british order, he does not have to be generous in return…

 

[muriel]

Maybe… Charles recived the Legion of Honour in 1984 and Camilla recived the Order of National Merit in 2014…

But it is up to President Macron to decide. All presidents handles this differently…. As Brigitte Macron will likely recive no british order, he does not have to be generous in return…

I agree, it is down to Macron to decide. However, given that Camilla already has the Order of National Merit, as Queen, I would expect her to now receive the Legion of Honour.

I do not know if William and Catherine will receive French honours though.

 

[An Ard Ri]

I do not know if William and Catherine will receive French honours though.

It will be interesting to see if that happens, the king and queen I believe are the only members of the RF to hold a French Order.

 

[Hans-Rickard]

I am also curious to see how they will do with the welcoming ceremony…

During the state visits to Denmark and Sweden President Macron did not travel in a carriage, despite most heads of state doing so…

He instead opted to travel by car all the way to the palace (maybe for security reasons ? )

When QEII hosted state visits at Windsor Castle they often built the royal dais at Datchet Road, by the Windsor & Eton Riverside Station, where QEII and Philip greeted the guests and the national anthems was played, followed by a carriage procession through Windsor, and on the last bit of the Long Walk up to Windsor Castle… That was the case also when Sarkozy did his state visit…

But Macron seems to not want to do that so maybe William and Catherine will greet them in London, and then travel with them by car to the quadrangle where all the welcoming will be done ?

 

[muriel]

I am also curious to see how they will do with the welcoming ceremony…

During the state visits to Denmark and Sweden President Macron did not travel in a carriage, despite most heads of state doing so…

He instead opted to travel by car all the way to the palace (maybe for security reasons ? )

When QEII hosted state visits at Windsor Castle they often built the royal dais at Datchet Road, by the Windsor & Eton Riverside Station, where QEII and Philip greeted the guests and the national anthems was played, followed by a carriage procession through Windsor, and on the last bit of the Long Walk up to Windsor Castle… That was the case also when Sarkozy did his state visit…

But Macron seems to not want to do that so maybe William and Catherine will greet them in London, and then travel with them by car to the quadrangle where all the welcoming will be done ?

You are right. It may well be that the Wales' receive the Macrons at RAF Northolt, and then the formal ceremony takes place within the quadrangle at Windsor.

 

[doro]

It will be interesting to see if that happens, the king and queen I believe are the only members of the RF to hold a French Order.

It would be a shame and a pity that the heirs of the British throne not receive the National Order of Merit!

 

[tommy100]

I am also curious to see how they will do with the welcoming ceremony…

During the state visits to Denmark and Sweden President Macron did not travel in a carriage, despite most heads of state doing so…

He instead opted to travel by car all the way to the palace (maybe for security reasons ? )

When QEII hosted state visits at Windsor Castle they often built the royal dais at Datchet Road, by the Windsor & Eton Riverside Station, where QEII and Philip greeted the guests and the national anthems was played, followed by a carriage procession through Windsor, and on the last bit of the Long Walk up to Windsor Castle… That was the case also when Sarkozy did his state visit…

But Macron seems to not want to do that so maybe William and Catherine will greet them in London, and then travel with them by car to the quadrangle where all the welcoming will be done ?

Macron was one of the few world leaders who chose to use a vehicle of his own rather than take the busses other Head of State did to the Queen's funeral. I wonder if like US Presidents, and like the other State Visits you mention he'll refuse a carriage ride. In which case it would make perhaps more sense for him to take the most direct route to quadrangle and be welcomed there indeed.

The welcome outside the train station always confused me a bit, it never really seemed to make sense and few HoS arrived by train but I guess they probably use to? Or was it just because it gave the best route to the Castle for a procession? I wonder if these days if they were to have a full carriage ride they might not just have HoS arrive to the bottom of the long Walk by car and ride from there up to the Castle rather than on lots of public roads?

 

[Hans-Rickard]

Macron was one of the few world leaders who chose to use a vehicle of his own rather than take the busses other Head of State did to the Queen's funeral. I wonder if like US Presidents, and like the other State Visits you mention he'll refuse a carriage ride. In which case it would make perhaps more sense for him to take the most direct route to quadrangle and be welcomed there indeed.

The welcome outside the train station always confused me a bit, it never really seemed to make sense and few HoS arrived by train but I guess they probably use to? Or was it just because it gave the best route to the Castle for a procession? I wonder if these days if they were to have a full carriage ride they might not just have HoS arrive to the bottom of the long Walk by car and ride from there up to the Castle rather than on lots of public roads?

I have also often wondered why they built the dais there when it was a long time ago since any heads of state arrived by train… The procedure usually was that Charles and Camilla, or other royals, met the visiting head of state with spouse at the airport or in London if they had stayed there the night before, and brought them to Datchet Road by car… I suppose it is because it gives a good processional route over Thames Street and High Street with lots of viewing opportunities for the public…

There is a video on youtube showing Queen Margrethe’s state visit in 1974 where the royal dais seems to have been built somewhere in the home park, so clearly they have been flexible before they seemingly settled for Datchet Road…

It will be interesting to see how KCIII does his Windsor state visits…