A symbolic ceremony marked the surrender of the French guards in London, and British soldiers were escorted to the Elysee Palace. It was intended to mark 120 years of friendship between France and the United Kingdom.
It was a historic moment: for the first time, British guards provided security at the Élysée Palace, the official residence of the French president, and their French counterparts took part in the famous surrender of the guard at Buckingham Palace.
Held practically in parallel in Paris and London, the symbolic ceremony aimed to celebrate the 120th anniversary of the signing of the “Entente Cordiale”, a set of four treaties reached in 1904. France and the United Kingdom. It was these agreements that paved the way for cooperation between the two countries during the First and Second World Wars.
In total, 32 members of the French National Guard and 40 members of the British Scots Guards exchanged roles. In Paris, President Emmanuel Macron joined British Ambassador to France Menna Rawlings; In London, King Charles III, who continues treatment to fight cancer, was represented at the Changing of the Guard by the Dukes of Edinburgh, accompanied by French ambassador Hélène Duchene.
It was the first time that troops from a non-Commonwealth country had participated in the surrender of the British Guard. It was also a first at the Élysée: for the first time in history, the French president revealed that foreign troops had been invited to participate in a military ceremony in Paris.
The occasion was marked by a video conference between President Macron and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on 10 March 2023, one year after the Franco-British summit in Paris, where they discussed bilateral relations between the two countries.
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