From monarchy to modern-day republic, France is a 'fascinating point of comparison' for King Charles
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Transcript
00:00 We can now bring in Dr Luke Blacksill,
00:02 historian of modern British politics and monarchy.
00:06 Good afternoon.
00:06 Thank you very much for joining us here on the programme today.
00:09 This is the first royal state visit to France post-Brexit.
00:14 What message will King Charles III aim to send?
00:16 Well, I think he'll be aiming to send a very diplomatic kind
00:23 of message.
00:24 I don't think he'll be talking about hard diplomacy.
00:26 He'll leave that to Rishi Sunak, the prime minister.
00:29 But I think he'll be trying to project a modern kind of image
00:33 and also a historic kind of image,
00:35 really very similar to what I think Emmanuel Macron will also
00:39 want out of it.
00:41 He said the whole talks with Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee
00:44 Palace this afternoon.
00:46 How can politics remain out of those discussions,
00:50 or do they actually creep in?
00:52 I think they inevitably will creep in.
00:57 Charles is supposed to be a symbol of political neutrality.
01:00 He's not affiliated to any of the UK political parties.
01:04 Obviously, Macron has his own independent political mandate.
01:08 But I think that both men will be very
01:10 minded of the symbol of the occasion,
01:13 that obviously Charles will be viewing
01:15 a number of very historic French monuments,
01:18 like the Arc de Triomphe, and having
01:19 a meal in the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles.
01:22 And there will be that very magical symbolism
01:25 that brings together two nations that
01:27 have had very strong monarchical histories, but of course,
01:30 went very different ways in history.
01:32 And so I think it will be the symbolism, on one part modern,
01:35 on one part historic, that will be the item that both men will
01:40 really want to come out with after this visit is over.
01:43 Now, the king will be addressing the French Senate
01:46 tomorrow morning.
01:48 What themes are likely to make their way into that speech?
01:54 Well, the first thing, the king is expected to address
01:56 the French Senate in French.
01:58 So the French people will get to assess
02:02 Charles's language skills.
02:04 I think he's likely to keep the address on relatively
02:06 bland themes.
02:07 He will speak of the environment.
02:09 He will speak of youth entrepreneurship.
02:12 He will speak of some of the historic links
02:15 between the two countries.
02:16 And I expect him to make a large number of callbacks
02:19 to his late mother, a figure, of course,
02:21 that the French public were intimately acquainted with.
02:24 And just like the British public, came to stand for really
02:27 a figure of reconstruction in the post-war age.
02:30 So I think it's going to really be how he says it,
02:33 as much as what he says, that's going to be most important.
02:36 - You mentioned Charles's mother,
02:39 because Queen Elizabeth II, we know,
02:41 had a special relationship with France.
02:44 She was fluent in the language.
02:47 She loved visiting the country.
02:49 What is Charles's relationship with France?
02:51 - I think that Charles is also a Francophile.
02:56 I think that the royal family in general,
02:59 not just the late Queen Elizabeth,
03:00 have a fascination with France.
03:03 It's always been the country that we look to,
03:06 despite the British Empire,
03:07 despite the United States of America,
03:09 it's always our closest point of comparison.
03:12 And I think that Charles, just like his mother,
03:15 is also very interested in the history of France as well.
03:18 Obviously, the countries took very different turns
03:21 in respect to the monarchy,
03:23 but I think he's also very aware
03:25 of some of that kind of status.
03:27 And France, obviously,
03:29 while it didn't become a constitutional monarchy in the end,
03:32 it became a republic,
03:33 found its way of dealing with its own history
03:36 and representing its history to a new age.
03:39 And Charles is drawing upon something quite a lot older,
03:42 a 1,000 year institution,
03:44 and of course, one that didn't really have a revolution.
03:46 And so I think France is a real fascinating point
03:49 of historical comparison for the king.
03:51 And I think the French people probably feel the same way
03:54 about the British monarchy.
03:55 - If you heard the report which we aired
03:58 before coming to you,
03:59 there are a lot of people in that report, especially,
04:02 who said that they had a different view
04:05 of Queen Elizabeth II than they do King Charles III.
04:10 What's it like there, where you are?
04:16 - I think that there is something of a feeling
04:20 that Charles is not as well-liked as his mother.
04:22 I think your report featured a number of interviews
04:25 from younger people,
04:26 who in Britain are certainly less likely
04:29 to be monarchists in general,
04:30 and maybe more likely to be a little bit more skeptical
04:33 of the new king.
04:34 But generally, British royalists,
04:35 I think, have been really pleased
04:37 with the public reaction to Charles in his first year.
04:41 Opinion polling put support for the monarchy in Britain
04:43 at about 62%.
04:45 That's down a little bit from the time of Elizabeth,
04:47 but there's not really been much
04:48 of a surge of Republican sentiment.
04:50 And while there is some skepticism
04:52 amongst some younger people,
04:54 I think that British royalists are fairly content
04:57 with the position of the monarchy at the moment.
04:58 There hasn't really been any groundswell
05:00 of Republican feeling yet,
05:02 and it doesn't really look as though that's likely,
05:05 unless there's some sort of major scandal.
05:08 - Dr. Luke Blacksall, we're gonna have to leave it there.
05:10 Thank you very much for joining us on the program.
05:12 for joining us on the program.
05:13 [BLANK_AUDIO]