King Charles III and Queen Camilla host President Emmanuel Macron and Brigitte Macron for private tour of the Bayeux Tapestry

King Charles III and Queen Camilla hosted President Emmanuel Macron and Brigitte Macron at the British Museum in London on Wednesday for a private viewing of the Bayeux Tapestry. The 11th-century embroidery, which depicts the Battle of Hastings in 1066, is on loan from France to Britain for the first time in over 900 years. During the visit, King Charles III spoke of the tapestry as a symbol of the trust and shared values between the two nations. Prime Minister Andy Burnham and his wife, Marie-France van Heel, also joined the tour. The exhibition, which opens to the public next week, saw record-breaking ticket sales, with the British Museum recording its largest day of sales in its history. The four heads of state and their spouses were welcomed by museum director Nicholas Cullinan and former finance minister George Osborne. The group toured the 70-meter-long work of art, which is stitched onto a bleached linen background. The visit follows a historic agreement between Britain and France to transport the tapestry safely from its permanent home in Normandy.

Sources

• Tatler
  Queen Camilla channels French glamour as she welcomes Brigitte Macron to unveil the Bayeux Tapestry at the British Museum
• The Guardian
  The Bayeux tapestry: a stupefying, thrilling, horrifying masterpiece that shakes the earth
• CNN
  Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron join King Charles and Queen Camilla in private viewing of famed Bayeux Tapestry

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Paywall and unreadable sources

• The Economist
  France is love-bombing Britain
• Le Monde.fr
  British Museum director Nicholas Cullinan: 'The Bayeux Tapestry, in a non-nationalistic way, is clearly part of our national identity'