The King quoted Shakespeare saying “what is past is prologue” after touring the Bayeux Tapestry with the French president and the Prime Minister.
In a public display of warm Anglo-French relations, Charles, Camilla, Emmanuel Macron and Andy Burnham walked the length of the 70-metre masterpiece at the British Museum in London on Wednesday evening.
They were joined by France’s first lady Brigitte Macron and Mr Burnham’s wife Marie-France van Heel.
Laughter in the exhibition space
In the dark exhibition space, the three leaders and their wives shared laughter and peered down at the woven record of the Norman conquest, listening intently to curators.
Charles showed the French president his preferred section, turning around to tell Mr Macron “oh, this is my favourite bit” while pointing to a group of Normans pulling a cart.
The two men laughed as the King said “they’ve got an enormous amount of wine”.
At the end of their walk, it was pointed out to Mr Burnham, Mr Macron and the King that a further 1,000 years of history is not included in the work.
Jokes and speeches
The Prime Minister joked to the French president, who was stood beside Charles: “Made in England, they couldn’t bear to show the end… too difficult.”
The French president smiled and replied “happy end, we’re here”, prompting a laugh from Charles.
The three men then gave speeches watched by a crowd including school children in the museum’s Great Hall.
The tapestry was “most likely to have been embroidered in Canterbury by English”, Charles said, before joking: “The Bayeux Tapestry – or the Canterbury embroidery as it might just have been called… recounts a conflict, yet here it is today, nearly a thousand years later, as a precious symbol of trust, at a time when trust seems sadly to be in short supply between nations.
“I cannot help but feel that its protagonists, on both sides of the Channel, would look with satisfaction on the Franco-British gathering here today, and be pleased that our two great nations, which share such fundamental values, have prospered together – across the tides of history.
“As Shakespeare said in The Tempest: ‘what is past is prologue’.
“We have defended our values together in times of peril. We continue do so today across the world.”
Arrival and welcome
Before their arrival, Great Russell Street was lined with members of the public waiting to catch a glimpse of the leaders.
Mr Burnham waved to a crowd of press as he and Mrs van Heel, wearing a white dress, exited their car shortly before 6pm to wait for their companions.
About 10 minutes later, to cheers from onlookers, the King and Mr Macron drove up in one car and Camilla and the first lady, both also in white dresses, in another.
Director of the British Museum, Dr Nicholas Cullinan, and the museum’s chairman, George Osborne, welcomed them.
They all walked up the museum’s grand stairs and were greeted by Mr Burnham and his wife in its Western Great Hall.
The French president stayed close to the King’s side as they spoke to politicians from both sides of the Channel, while Mr Burnham hung back, chatting with other attendees.
