Here are photos from Day 1 of King Charles and Queen Camilla’s trip to France. They were originally supposed to go to France in March, but the French riots put a stop to that, especially when French people began planning specific protests for Charles and Camilla’s visit, plus there was some mention of a guillotine.

Charles and Camilla arrived at Orly airport in the afternoon, and Camilla wore a pink Fiona Clare ensemble for all of the daytime activities, which included a state greeting at the airport with a Guard of Honor, then a trip to the Arc de Triomphe, then some separate activities with King Charles and President Macron peeling away from their wives. Camilla left the impression that she was staggering around, half in the bag. She also didn’t have weights in the hem of her Fiona Clare dress, and her skirt blew up as she was deplaning.

For the state dinner at Versailles, Camilla wore a caped Dior in navy, and Brigitte Macron also wore navy. Copykeening! Camilla paired her Dior look with some Royal Collection sapphires and diamonds. The menu included blue lobster, Bresse French poultry with mushroom gratin, and a selection of both French and English cheese, including Stichelton. The gifts between Macron and Charles were suitably bookish: Macron gave Charles “an original edition of Romain Gary’s “The Roots of Heaven,” a 1956 novel about a rogue environmentalist. Charles in return gave him Voltaire’s “Letters on the English.”

The Washington Post’s coverage was somewhat savage, noting that the French reaction to Charles and Camilla’s visit elicited a shrug, unlike the popularity QEII enjoyed in France. They spoke to a 22-year-old ice cream salesgirl who said: “More people are interested in Queen Elizabeth. She was around my entire life. She was a big personality. Even though we are French, we know her. But the king is not as known. People don’t talk about him. He’s an old man and won’t last long, so maybe people want that distance, or maybe they just don’t care.”

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.