Europe 1 with AFP 11:40 a.m., April 8, 2024

To celebrate 120 years of the Entente Cordiale between France and the United Kingdom, the two countries are organizing this Monday morning a cross-over between the Élysée and Buckingham Palace. A historic first.

Uniforms and cadenced steps as symbols of friendship: France and the United Kingdom, to celebrate 120 years of the Entente Cordiale between the two countries, are organizing a cross-over on Monday between the Élysée and Buckingham Palace. "While Brexit was voted on and then implemented, while (...) the war returns and our challenges are immense, this cordial understanding is in some way the foundation so old but so relevant in our current times which allows us to maintain the bilateral relationship," French President Emmanuel Macron said in a video posted on X.

Long live the Entente Cordiale,


Long live Franco-British friendship! pic.twitter.com/hIfNnrxnCq

— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) April 8, 2024

A historic first

Grenadiers from the British Royal Household were involved in the changing of the guard ceremony on Monday at 9:45 a.m. in the main courtyard of the Élysée Palace, in the presence of the Head of State and the Ambassador of the United Kingdom. in France, Menna Rowlings. The French guards were to do the same, in London, in front of King Charles III's Buckingham Palace.

The 16 members of the "Number 7 Company Coldstream Guards" of the British Embassy, ​​wearing their traditional "bearksin", the high fur hat, took part in the relief of their French counterparts from two sections of the 1st Infantry regiment. The French Army Choir then sang the two anthems, God Save the King and La Marseillaise. “This is the first time in the history of the Élysée that a foreign troop has been invited to participate in this military ritual,” underlines the French presidency.

"At the same time, two sections of the 1st and 2nd Infantry Regiment of the Republican Guard will participate in the changing of the guard ceremony in front of Buckingham Palace, alongside guards from F Company Scots Guards, the Public Duties Company of the British army responsible for the ceremonies in London and Windsor", according to the same source.

France, first non-Commonwealth country to participate in the changing of the guard

In London, the ceremony will be attended by the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, Prince Edward and his wife Sophie, accompanied by the British Chief of Staff, General Patrick Sanders, and his French counterpart, General Pierre Schill . The event will mark the first time a non-Commonwealth country, which mainly includes former English-speaking British colonies and possessions, has participated in the changing of the guard ceremony.

"France and the United Kingdom, going through two world wars and the upheavals of the 20th century, have been able to build a strong bilateral relationship, based on the same democratic ideal, on a common adherence to multilateralism and on a shared vision of our responsibilities and our strategic interests", recalled Emmanuel Macron.

>> TO KNOW -

The signing of the Entente Cordiale on April 8, 1904, to settle colonial disputes, is widely considered to prepare the ground for the union of France and Great Britain against Germany during the First World War. By extension, it is often the name given to Franco-British relations, regularly marked by antagonisms and tensions.

At the end of 2023, Emmanuel Macron once again made public, on the first Tuesday of each month, the changing of the Republican Guard in front of the Élysée. This one, however, is much less spectacular than the one in front of the royal palace in London.