Europe 1 with AFP 12:41 p.m., September 21, 2023

A King of England at the Luxembourg Palace, surrounded by statues of Saint-Louis and Charlemagne: Charles III received a standing ovation from the Senate for a "symbolic" speech in a bastion of the French Republic, in front of parliamentarians conquered despite reluctance and a few empty places.

After the Hall of Mirrors of the Palace of Versailles on Wednesday, the British sovereign was not disoriented in this former princely residence and its gilding, occupied by Marie de Medici in the seventeenth century. In an outpouring rarely seen in this chamber of the territories - the Senate services were overwhelmed with requests for accreditation - the 300 or so senators and deputies gathered in the hemicycle uttered an exclamation at the arrival of the Royal Bentley in the courtyard of the presidency, under a very "British" rain. And the ovation, at the entrance and exit of the king, lasted several minutes, despite some seats remained empty among the 348 that counts the hall.

Many laughs

There was also a lot of laughter when Senate President Gérard Larcher, this morning's host, quoted Charles de Gaulle confiding to Winston Churchill: "The more you progress in French, the more you understand my English."

Ditto when Charles III "apologized" for interrupting the parliamentary return of the Assembly, and the campaign for Sunday's senatorial elections.

Not all welcomed this coming with the same approval. "September 21 is not a day to listen to a king. He is the one during which we celebrate the anniversary of the Republic, "wrote on X (ex-Twitter) the communist senator Pierre Ouzoulias, referring to the abolition of the monarchy by a decree of the deputies of the Convention on September 21, 1792. The Communist Group sent only one senator to this speech.

A "very warm" sovereign

Also offended, the CGT union of parliamentary collaborators regretted having been asked to remain confined to the offices during the royal visit, an "intolerable infantilization" according to them. The protocol, however, concerned everyone: even the parliamentarians had to settle very early in the hemicycle, then wait a few minutes after Charles III's speech, the time for the delegation to leave.

Most of them appreciated this highly symbolic speech in the sitting room, the first by a British sovereign. "This is a very important moment, a visit full of symbols. The fact of having insisted on coming to the Senate is not trivial," says Senator Christian Cambon, president of the Foreign Affairs Committee, who saw a sovereign "as we imagined: very warm, with a lot of simplicity, who looks at you and smiles at you."

The oldest parliamentarians were already there on 6 April 2004, when Queen Elizabeth II addressed representatives of both chambers from the prestigious Conference Room adjacent to the Chamber, formerly known as the Conference Room... of the Throne.

At the time, the queen was offered a "unique" orchid created in the greenhouses of the Luxembourg Gardens. On Thursday, Charles left with a jar of honey harvested from the hives set up on site. Nothing says if it contained royal jelly.