King Charles III pledges to strengthen France-UK relationship in Senate speech

King Charles III pledged on Thursday that he would make every effort during his rule to improve ties between France and Britain, calling them “indispensable” links. In a keynote address to the French Senate on the second day of a three-day visit, he said, “For the time that is granted to me as King, I pledge to do whatever I can to strengthen the indispensable relationship between the United Kingdom and France.” “Ours is a partnership forged through shared experience, and one which remains utterly vital as, together, we confront the challenges of our world,” he added. “Quite simply, the United Kingdom will always be one of France’s closest allies and best friends,” he said. King Charles III suggested that France and Britain should team up to jointly tackle the climate and biodiversity emergencies with a new version of the 1904 Entente Cordiale pact that sealed the friendship between Paris and London. “I would like to propose it also becomes an ‘Entente pour la Durabilite’ (Partnership for Sustainability) in order to tackle the global climate and biodiversity emergency more effectively,” he told the French Senate. After the Senate address, the King and the Queen are scheduled to head to Saint-Denis, north of Paris, to meet community sports groups and stars as France hosts the Rugby World Cup. He will later visit the Paris flower market named after Queen Elizabeth II and rejoin French president Emmanuel Macron - who he was with during a banquet last night - in front of Notre-Dame Cathedral to see the ongoing renovation work aimed at reopening the monument by the end of next year, after it was devastated by a fire in 2019. It comes after Charles attended a ceremony at Paris’ Arc de Triomphe and the dinner at the Palace of Versailles yesterday on the first day of the visit. With inputs from agencies