We’re three days away from the State Visit of Her Majesty The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh. Excitement is rising in the Embassy as we approach it.
Why is this visit going to be so special? First of all, because the Queen stands for so much in the relationship between Britain and France.
Transcript (continued)
Her Majesty Herself and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh have been coming here since their first visit in 1948, when she was Princess Elizabeth, and just married. She’s been a regular visitor since then. Her enjoyment and that of the Duke being in France is evident to all, and it is matched by a real affection for the Queen and the Royal Family in France. And we’re going to see that, I’m sure, during the State Visit.
So in the precious few hours that we have the Royal Couple with us in France, we wanted to have a State Visit which captures the essence of the relationship between the two countries.
Part of it will be looking back at the history of shared interests, shared sacrifices, some formal, solemn moments: a commemoration for example of the courage of those who landed on D-Day, when Her Majesty will be leading the British delegation at the 70th anniversary commemorations of D-Day.
There will be moments of colourful pomp and ceremony: The Queen will be coming down the Champs-Elysées decked out with union jacks and French tricolors with 146 mounted Republican Guards on Thursday afternoon – that will be quite a spectacle.
There will also be moments for Her Majesty and His Royal Highness to meet people who are engaged in the modern relationship and the future – so we will be having a garden party here, where people from all walks of life – business, culture, education, sport – will be here to talk to The Queen about the UK-French relationship.
And then The Royal Couple will also be mixing with people in Paris. She will be visiting the flower market on Saturday morning, which will be colourful, which will bring her into contact with young people. Some students from schools around Paris have done a whole series of small videos welcoming The Queen which will be played there, and we shall then put them on our social networking sites.
So it’s an opportunity to capture in a short space of time and to make very visual the whole range and depth of the relationship with France. and perhaps as you can tell, I’m very excited about it.