King Charles pays moving tribute to late Queen and Prince Philip in emotive speech

The King and Queen will shortly be arriving in Paris for the start of their postponed state visit to France. 

Charles and Camilla will begin their three-day trip to Paris and Bordeaux with a ceremonial welcome at the Arc de Triomphe and later, a state banquet at the Palace of Versailles.

The couple had originally been due to visit the country in March, but their trip was postponed after widespread rioting and days of protests against President Emmanuel Macron's pension age reforms.

The state visit will mark His Majesty’s 35^th official visit to France, and Her Majesty’s ninth official visit.

In March, the King and Queen still carried out the second leg of their travels with a three-day state visit to Germany, making it the first of their reign. 

HELLO!'s Royal Editor, Emily Nash, is in Paris with the King and Queen. 

Find out what Charles and Camilla will be up to on their first day in France, including a star-studded state banquet at the Palace of Versailles. 

Ahead of the King and Queen's arrival, President Emmanuel Macron shared a poignant welcome message ahead of Charles’s arrival, writing on social media: "You visited as a Prince, you return as a King. Your Majesty, welcome."

Mr Macron shared archive footage of some of the King's 34 previous official trips to the country as the Prince of Wales, with snippets of addresses he delivered in French.

Later this week, the King will become the first British monarch to give a speech from France's senate chamber, to senators and national assembly members.

The King and Queen have arrived in France to a guard of honour at Paris' Orly airport, and were greeted by the French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne and other diplomats.

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An officer and 20 guardsmen of the Republican Guard, which is part of the French National Gendarmerie, were lined up to greet them. 

Later, Charles and Camilla will meet with President Macon and his wife, Brigitte, for a ceremony of remembrance and wreath laying at the Arc de Triomphe, in the capital's centre.

The King and Queen arrived shortly before 2pm local time on a private chartered flight from Farnborough, travelling on the “baby Voyager” airbus plane to Paris Orly airport. 

See the royals disembark from the aircraft in the clip below...

The royals are well versed when it comes to displaying sartorial diplomacy on state visits and tours. 

For her arrival in France, Queen Camilla is wearing a dusky pink wool crepe coat dress by Fiona Clare and a pink beret shaped hat with a leaf design by Philip Treacy. 

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She also accessorised with a four-strand pearl necklace and Charlotte Elizabeth's 'Mayflower' top-handle bag in taupe.

Pink appears to be the chosen hue of the day, with Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne sporting a fuchsia jacket. 

We saw several royals jump on the Barbiecore trend this summer, thanks to Greta Gerwig's box office delight, Barbie. 

See the Princess of Wales, Queen Letizia, Zara Tindall and more in the colour of the season... 

RELATED: 7 Royals in Barbie pink! Princess Kate, Zara Tindall, Princess Beatrice & more surprising outfits 

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On arrival at the Arc de Triomphe, Their Majesties are greeted by President Macron and First Lady Brigitte.

Over the years, Mr Macron and Charles have forged a close bond, with shared interests in climate change and the environmental. 

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The French President was pictured placing a hand on the King's back, as the monarch accompanied him to review the Regimental Band of the Garde Républicaine, followed by the French Colour Party, before inspecting  the Tri-Service Guard of Honour.  

Incredible scenes as the King and Queen were treated to a flypast by the Patrouille de France, and the Red Arrows.

It comes after Charles took part in a ceremony of remembrance and wreath-laying at the Arc de Triomphe in the centre of the capital.

During the ceremony, Charles symbolically lit the the monument's eternal flame which burns in memory of those who died in the First and Second World Wars.

For their next engagement, the King and Queen are sitting down for an audience with the President and his wife at the Elysée Palace.  

HELLO!'s Royal Editor Emily Nash has shared this video of the pair arriving in the courtyard of the palace. 

The King and the President will proceed into the Salon Doré room for their meeting. 

Situated at the centre of the Palace, the Salon Doré has a central role as the office of the President of the Republic.  

The Queen appears to be getting on very well with Brigitte Macron and the two women briefly held hands as they left the Elysée Palace. 

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According to French reporters here, Madame Macron is a very warm person and also a keen admirer of the British Royal Family. 

Both women are also passionate about reading and literature so will have plenty to talk about.

So what else will the King and Queen be getting up to in France?

This evening, Charles and Camilla will be guests of honour at a grand black tie state banquet hosted by President and Madame Macron in the Palace of Versailles' Hall of Mirrors.

Both the King and Mr Macron will address the 160 guests, who will include high-profile figures chosen for their contribution to UK-France relations.

The majority of the original royal programme has been retained but a few new elements have been added, including Camilla and Mrs Macron launching a new Franco-British literary prize at the Bibliotheque Nationale de France.

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The King will also become the first British monarch to give a speech from France's senate chamber to senators and national assembly members on Thursday.

Other highlights include the royal couple meeting sports stars as France hosts the Rugby World Cup.

When the couple travel to Bordeaux, home to 39,000 Britons, they will meet UK and French military personnel to hear about how the two nations are collaborating on defence.

During their audience at the Elysee Palace, Charles presented President Macron with a photography album containing images of the pair of them. 

The also gave Mr Macron a complete edition of French author Voltaire’s writings, including Lettres sur les Anglais, otherwise known as Lettres philosophiques.

The works have been edited by Prof Nicholas Cronk, director of the Voltaire Foundation and a leading UK academic at Oxford University. 

Having started work in 1968, the complete works, comprising 205 volumes, were only recently finished in April 2022.

In return, Mr Macron gave the King a golden coin from the Monnaie de Paris featuring Charles’s portrait. 

He also gave him a first-edition prize-winning French novel - Romain Gary’s novel Les Racines (The Roots of Heaven), which won the Prix Goncourt, France’s highest literary award in 1956. 

As the King and Macron walked from the Elysée Palace to the British Ambassador’s residence, they were met with crowds cheering and waving flags. At the sight, the two men exchanged a glance, with the King pointing at the crowd and suggesting they go over and greet them.

What followed was plenty of handshaking as members of the crowd expressed their delight that Charles had been able to visit. Speaking to HELLO!, a woman named Sophie, said: "I came here to see the King and because I think it's an important and memorable moment for our two countries, especially since Brexit. For my part, it [coming here] was in some sense also a tribute to Queen Elizabeth. People here still have an affection for the British crown."

At the Ambassador's, Charles followed a tradition set by other British monarches, including his late mother, as he planted a tree in the gardens. The garden has three trees from the Queen, including a Persian Highwood from her first state visit to France in 1957, a Gingko Biloba from a 1972 visit and a Cork Oak from her final visit to France.

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The night will be capped off by a State Banquet and the major celebrities from both Britain and France will be in attendance alongside the monarch. Stars like Mick Jagger, Didier Drogba, Arsene Wenger and Hugh Grant have already arrived, although a blustery day has been playing havoc with some of their outfits!

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King Charles and Queen Camilla have now arrived for the event alongside Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte. The King and French president will both address the 160 guests in the Palace of Versailles' Hall of Mirrors. There will then be a State Banquet.

Everyone looked very glamorous for the evening event, including the Queen who looked radiant in a midnight-blue Silk Crepe dress from Dior.

© Pascal Le Segretain

The Palace of Versailles is home to many rooms, including the awe-inspiring Hall of Mirrors, where the State Banquet will be taking place. Take a small tour of the room in the clip below.

While many celebs encountered issues with their outfits and the winds outside the Palace, they might be relieved to know that royals have also encounted similar mishaps over the years. Whether it be unexpected guests of wind or losing a shoe, relive the times that members of the royal family proved they're just like us in our gallery here.

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In an emotive speech to guests, the King began by sharing an anecdote about a previous state visit that had been carried out by his late parents, the Queen and Prince Philip.

"My parents' first official visit together was to France in 1948, shortly after their wedding," he said. "By all accounts, they made quite a splash, dancing till the early hours at the glamourous Chez Carrere in the Rue Pierre Charron, serenaded by Edith Piaf. I suspect it may have left an indelible impression on me, even six months before I was born - La Vie en Rose is one of my favourite songs to this day!"

It wasn't just dancing into the night that Charles spoke about when referencing his parents' past trips to France, he also brought up what happened when embassy staff attempted to bring some wine from Hampshire into the country.

"I was reminded recently that when she returned the courtesy with dinner for the President and Madame Pompidou at the Hotel de Charost, they ran into a little more difficulty," he explained. "Our Embassy tried to bring several cases of English wine over from Hampshire for the banquet, only to be prevented by a customs official at Orly. In those days, there was no such thing as 'English wine'."

King Charles wasn't the only person to give a speech during the State Banquet, as Macron also shared his own words, paying tribute to the Queen and Prince Philip and highlighting the "fascination" the French have with their neighbours, including Winston Churchill, the works of Shakespeare, the music of The Beatles. He then cheekily added: "I should also say the Rolling Stones," gesturing at guest Mick Jagger.

Guests dined off the Service des Oiseaux, decorative bird-motif plates made by the famous Porcelaine de Sevres, at a 60m long table decorated with locally sourced roses and hydrangeas in shades of pink, purple and white. Dishes were served up from a temporary kitchen as historically, the vast Palace has never had a full working kitchen because only the French King and Queen ate there.

Ahead of the Banquet, Charles and Camilla were given a tour of the Palace's royal chapel. In a change to the schedule, their Majesties were given a history of the 18th bentury place of worship, rather than attending a short concert there. They had been due to listen to a performance by the Swedish violinist Daniel Lozakovich, who was also due to perform later in the evening for assembled guests.

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Thank you for joining us for today's look over the state visit. We leave you with the menu from tonight's event, which included an entree of blue lobster and crab cake with a veil of fresh almonds and rooster mint.

For the main, guests dined on corn-flavoured Bresse poulty and cep gratin and the cheese option was a 30-month Comte cheese and stilchelton (a French take on Stilton).

As for dessert, they enjoyed an ispahan from Pierre-Herme, which is a rose-flavoured dessert.

We hope you had just as delicious meal tonight!