France will receive the official visit of the kings of Great Britain on Wednesday and on Thursday Pope Francis will land in Marseille, where he will meet with President Emmanuel Macron. The arrival of these personalities police worried about threat of Al Qaeda Arabian Peninsula, which in its magazine Sada Al Malahim, threatened “to attack a ministry in Paris” and “destroy a Swedish embassy”, after a Koran was burned in Sweden.
The “red alert” spread rapidly in France, which is already on “attack alert” since the attacks on the Charlie Hebdo magazine. The pages of Al Qaeda’s magazine are illustrated with the image of a hooded man armed with a rifle, posing in front of images of crying French police officers.
“Sweden, France and other countries that fight against God do not simply understand abstract words. They do not understand the language of dialogue and communication. They won’t understand it and won’t take it into account until they hear news like “The Swedish embassy was razed to the ground after a violent explosion” or “An armed attack on a ministry” in Paris, says the magazine.
The president of the Center for Analysis of Terrorism Jean-Charles Brisard believes that these “threats illustrate the persistence of the terrorist risk, largely fueled by the local context”, citing, for example, the ban on the abaya in schools in France. He noted the “progressive reconstitution of capabilities to project the threat of Al Qaeda and the Islamic State, from Afghanistan, the Syrian-Iraqi zone, the Sahel and Yemen.”
The British kings
The new British sovereign Charles III and his wife, Queen Camilla, They begin a visit to France this Wednesday, which will begin in Paris and end on Friday in Bordeaux. The previous and first official visit of the sovereign was canceled because in France there was a conflict of civil disobedience and violence, due to the reform of the pension law.
The tour of King Charles III and his wife will begin on the Champs-Elysées, in a ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Arc de Triomphe alongside President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte.
The two anthems will then be heard and spectators will be able to admire the acrobatics of the French Patrol and the British Red Arrows.
At the end of this ceremony, The king and the president will descend the Champs Elysées in a vehicle marked French Republic. The queen and the first lady will go in another.
The kings will cross the Champs Elysees in a car. The king’s idea was to talk or greet those who have come to see them. A circumstance that worries the police which protects high dignitaries in France in this climate of fear of the attack.
Then there will be an interview between both leaders at the Elysée Palace. The sovereigns will travel to the British embassy, next to the presidential palace.
The grandeur of the Gallery of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles awaits you for a gala meal, which the French head of state will offer to the kings. The king will speak a little in French in his acceptance speech.
On Thursday the kings will visit the works in the burned-out Notre Dame Cathedral, the Natural History Museum in the Jardin de Plants and will depart for Bordeaux, where they will end the visit on Friday the 22nd.
The two leaders will head to the Elysee Palace on Wednesday shortly before 4 p.m. for a face to face meeting which will address biodiversity, climate, the artificial intelligence summit scheduled for November in the United Kingdom and the situation in the United Kingdom, Sahel and Ukraine.
At 4:45 p.m., Charles III and Emmanuel Macron will attend the oak replanting ceremony, offered by the President of the Republic in honor of the king.
Around 8:00 p.m., the two couples will meet at the Palace of Versailles for a state dinner, in the form of “a nod to Queen Elizabeth II”, who had visited there several times, reported the Elysée.
The Queen and Prince Philip had lunch in the Hall of Mirrors, at the invitation of President René Coty, during her first state visit to France in 1957. The late sovereign visited Versailles again in 1972, describing then “a charming mix of what is, at least at the same time, similar and different in our two countries.”
Charles III is “sensitive to the idea of being able to follow in his mother’s footsteps,” pointed out the Elysée, which also sees in the choice of Versailles an opportunity to “make France shine”, through one of its most famous places in the world.
The Hall of Mirrors, an emblematic part of the castle, is a large baroque-style ceremonial gallery, originally intended to illustrate the power of the absolute monarch Louis XIV and dazzle his visitors. It is 73 meters long and covered with 357 pieces of glass. Between 150 and 180 guests will be invited to Monday’s dinner, the Presidency added. The musical animation will be provided by the Swedish violinist Daniel Lozakovich.
The visit to the Cathedral
King Charles III and Queen Camilla will begin their second day in Paris with a visit to Notre Dame Cathedral. Starting at 2:50 p.m., the royal couple will visit the restoration site in the company of Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron. A time of debate is planned with representatives of the restoration team.
At 3:40 p.m., Charles III and Emmanuel Macron will close a ministerial round table dedicated to climate finance and biodiversity, at the Natural History Museum, in the presence of economic actors.
Camilla and Brigitte Macron They will inaugurate the Franco-British literary prize in the National Library. It will be awarded for the first time in 2024.
They will also go to Saint-Denis, north of Paris, as well as 19M, a craft center founded by Chanel in the capital’s 19th arrondissement.
After two days in Paris, the royal couple will travel to Bordeaux. The program is less clear, but the visit It shouldn’t last more than a few hours. True to their ecological principles, they would visit an organic vineyard.
Red alert
All police permits have been canceled in France as authorities try to contain terrorist threats and public order around the visits of King Charles, Queen Camilla and the Pope.
Gérald Darmanin, Minister of the Interior, told police chiefs that they faced a “particularly intense” week. Officers are also providing security during the Rugby World Cup across the country.
Minister Darmanin said: “The level of terrorist threat hanging over our country requires the maintenance of a very high level of surveillance.
Officials also want to avoid disruptions to public order during the royal visit to Paris and Bordeaux.
Eight thousand additional officers will be deployed on Wednesday when Carlos and Camilla begin their visit. There will be 10,000 more on Thursday when they go to Notre Dame Cathedral.
The Pope in Marseille
When the kings of Great Britain are still in France, Pope Francis will arrive in Marseille on Thursday. After the giant mass celebrated by the Pope at the Vélodrome, President Emmanuel Macron will speak with the religious dignitary. This is the first time since 2008 that a Pope has visited France.
The French Head of State will attend the giant mass, celebrated by Pope Francis, on Saturday, September 23 at the Vélodrome stadium in Marseille, according to information from La Croix. Brigitte Macron will also be present.
The president will also speak with Francis during a private meeting, after the religious ceremony and at the end of the Mediterranean meetings, which will bring together 70 bishops and 70 young people from across the Mediterranean region.
However, the Pope will not have the honors of a presidential welcome when he leaves the plane on Friday. And rightly so: the president will conclude his visit to France with Charles III during this time. Therefore, it will be Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne who will be present on the track.
Immigration as a topic
The last visit of a Pope to France dates back to 2008. François Fillon then attended Benedict XVI’s mass at Les Invalides, without Nicolas Sarkozy. This visit is eagerly awaited.
The Vatican has also thought big: Francis will ride on Saturday through the Prado, one of the main arteries of Marseille in “the popemobile.” Then the mass will be broadcast on giant screens. 5,000 gendarmes and police will be mobilized.
Francis will dedicate this visit to Marseille to the immigration issue, including a tribute to immigrants. An issue that divides France and encourages the growth of Marine Le Pen as a presidential candidate.