Emmanuel Macron is due to travel to London this week to inaugurate the British Museum's exhibition of the Bayeux Tapestry, the 11th-century embroidered work depicting William the Conqueror's invasion of England. According to the Elysee, the trip is set for Wednesday, with the exhibition's opening described as a particularly significant moment for Franco British relations.
The tapestry left French soil for the first time in more than nine hundred years, transported to London under tight security. The loan was announced years earlier as a major symbolic gesture between the two countries. In return, treasures from the British Museum representing all four nations of the United Kingdom, including the Sutton Hoo hoard and the Lewis chessmen, are due to travel to museums in Normandy.
The next day, Thursday, Macron is expected to hold what the Elysee has called a first in-depth exchange with Andy Burnham, who became British Prime Minister last month after Keir Starmer's resignation. It would mark the first visit by a European Union leader since Burnham took office.
The exhibition is set to open to the public on September 10 and run until July 11, 2027. More than one hundred thousand tickets have reportedly already been sold for the first four months, a sign of the interest generated by the loan on both sides of the Channel.
This account draws on reporting by The Local and the British Museum.