By GB News (World News) | Created at 2026-09-02 18:25:35 | Updated at 2026-09-02 19:39:03
1 hour ago
King Charles spoke in French to Emmanuel Macron as he praised the enduring relationship between Britain and France during a speech marking the historic display of the Bayeux Tapestry in London.
The King addressed the French President and his wife, Brigitte Macron, at the British Museum on Wednesday evening, where the 11th-century embroidery is being displayed in the UK for the first time.
Opening his remarks in French, King Charles said he could not express how delighted he and Queen Camilla were to be at the museum after viewing the famous tapestry.
The monarch then thanked Mr Macron and the French people for placing their trust in Britain by agreeing to the “unprecedented loan”.
King Charles recalled discussing the possibility of bringing the tapestry to Britain during his and Camilla’s State Visit to France in 2023, describing it as “a particular joy” to see the plans become reality.
He said the loan represented the “best possible symbol” of the “Entente amicale” between the two nations.
Turning to the history depicted in the tapestry, the King said it told a story familiar to most people in Britain, including the events of 1066, the Battle of Hastings and the Norman Conquest.
He described the conquest as “a moment that changed the course of these islands forever”, while also referring to the tapestry as the beginning of what he called the “French side” of his family’s history in Britain.
King Charles spoke in French to Emmanuel Macron as he praised the enduring relationship between Britain and France during a speech marking the historic display of the Bayeux Tapestry in London
GB NEWS
The King also joked about his ancestry, noting that he was “undoubtedly the direct descendant of King William I” before suggesting that the 13th-century Treaty of Paris might stand in the way of any claim to being the current Duke of Normandy.
Charles used the tapestry to highlight the intertwined history of Britain and France, stressing that it may itself have brought the two peoples together from the moment it was created.
Although commissioned in Normandy, the tapestry was “most likely” embroidered in Canterbury by English craftspeople, he said.
He jokingly suggested that it could therefore have been known as the “Canterbury Embroidery”, rather than the Bayeux Tapestry.
President Emmanuel Macron issued a speech ahead of the King for the Bayeux Tapestry Exhibition
REUTERS
King Charles said the historic artefact depicted conflict between England and Normandy but had now become “a precious symbol of trust” between the two countries.
He pointed to the wider cultural exchange accompanying the tapestry’s loan, with treasures from the British Museum due to travel to France in return.
The Sutton Hoo Treasures are expected to go on display in Caen next year, while the Lewis Chessmen and Renaissance drawings will be shown in Rouen.
The King said the artefacts demonstrated how Britain and France had been “bound together for almost a millennium”.
King Charles III and Queen Camilla, alongside France's President Emmanuel Macron, viewing a section of the Bayeux Tapestry
GETTY
He also reflected on the lessons of the tapestry’s depiction of Harold’s oath to William, contrasting the medieval episode with the “expert negotiations” involved in modern Franco-British summits.
His Majesty concluded by returning to the idea of the tapestry as a symbol of a shared future.
In a final passage delivered in French, he echoed Mr Macron’s previous remarks that “the story of the Tapestry is not finished”, saying each generation could add to the “fabric of our shared history”.
He called for the tapestry and the treasures travelling in the opposite direction to stand as symbols of a future “woven, as it should be, by Britain and France together”.
