Prince Charles and Camilla to meet President Macron in first face-to-face engagement since coronavirus pandemic
The engagement will take place at Clarence House to mark the 80th anniversary of General de Gaulle's "Appel" to the French people.
Friday 12 June 2020 18:36, UK
The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall will carry out the Royal Family's first face-to-face engagement since the start of the coronavirus pandemic when they meet the president of France next week.
Prince Charles and the duchess will welcome Emmanuel Macron to Clarence House on Thursday, on behalf of the UK government, to celebrate the 80th anniversary of General de Gaulle's "Appel" to the French people.
It will be the first time that any member of the Royal Family has carried out an engagement or audience in person since lockdown restrictions were introduced because of COVID-19.
Prince Charles and Camilla will formally receive Mr Macron at their home in London, with a Guard of Honour by Number 7 Company Coldstream Guards accompanied by the Band of the Coldstream Guards.
The event will mark 80 years since Charles de Gaulle, as leader of the Free French Forces, called on the French people to resist the German occupation of France during the Second World War. He made the broadcast from London on 18 June 1940.
:: Listen to the Daily podcast on , , ,
He had fled France the day before and was given permission to record the speech in the UK by Winston Churchill. It is often seen as the origin of the French resistance to Nazi forces, and one of the most important speeches in French history.
It will be the first engagement in person that Prince Charles and Camilla have carried out since the start of the pandemic.
They have been at Birkhall, their home in Scotland since the lockdown started, carrying out regular video calls and phone calls to keep in touch with their charity patronages and releasing video messages of support for community groups and key workers.
The prince caught the virus in mid-March and last week told Sky News that he knows he was "lucky" and "got away with it quite lightly", but it has made him even more determined to "push and shout and prod" to make sure nature is at the centre of the post-COVID recovery.