The loan of the Bayeux tapestry was “the best possible symbol” of the “entente amicale” between France and the UK, King Charles said, as he visited the famous embroidered masterpiece at the British Museum in London.
Though the tapestry recounts a conflict, “here it is today, nearly 1,000 years later, as a precious symbol of trust, at a time when trust seems sadly to be in short supply between nations,” he said.
The “70 metres of memory and artistry” were a reminder “that our two nations have been bound together for almost a millennium”, added Charles, speaking at the new exhibition and accompanied by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and UK prime minister, Andy Burnham.
In a speech partly delivered in French, he said: “We have defended our values together in times of peril; we continue to do so today across the world.”
He continued: “May this tapestry – and the treasures that will travel in return – stand as symbols not only of our shared past, but our shared future: a future woven, as it should be, by Britain and France together.”
Macron, also speaking in French and English, said that the return of the tapestry “had required a little patience” , since he first spoke of it in 2018.
“Since the first British request dates back to 1931, I choose to regard eight years as something of a speed record,” he said.
He added that, with the tapestry in Britain, his hopes were that the two countries could “forge a bond as close as the threads of this thousand-year-old embroidery”.
The tapestry – the woven record of the Norman conquest – has returned to the UK for the first time in almost 1,000 years, and is on loan until September 2027 as part of a special trilateral agreement between the UK, France and the museum.
Charles’s reference to entente amicale followed his use of the phrase to rebrand the famous “entente cordiale” between the two nations in his banquet speech at Windsor Castle when he hosted the Macrons in July last year.
During Wednesday’s visit, he expressed his “deepest appreciation” to Macron and the French people “for the trust you have placed in the United Kingdom by agreeing to this unprecedented loan”.
He said: “It once depicted warriors crossing the Channel; yet today it forms part of a cultural exchange that will see some of the British Museum’s own precious artefacts travel to France in return, in a spirit of friendship.”
Thanking all those who made the loan possible, he added: “Anyone studying the tapestry’s scenes in detail will notice that, even in the 11th century, historic events rarely happened without extensive discussion, careful planning and a great deal of organisation beforehand.”
The party, which also included Queen Camilla, France’s first lady, Brigitte Macron, and Burnham’s wife, Marie-France van Heel, stopped at key moments along the 11th-century artwork to hear from curators about historic events such as the coronation of Harold Godwinson and the much-disputed depiction of his death by an arrow to the eye at the Battle of Hastings in 1066.
At his first prime minister’s questions earlier on Wednesday, Burnham said: “The loaning of the tapestry is a great example of French-British cooperation, the same cooperation that has helped us reduce summer small boat crossings to a seven-year low.”
The Labour leader also said the Bayeux Around Britain programme, which will see the digital exhibition displayed in museums, galleries and castles in all four nations, would “give communities across the UK the opportunity to learn about one of the defining stories of our past”.
In exchange, Britain will loan the Sutton Hoo treasures – an assemblage of gold and other historic objects dating from the 7th century AD – and a selection of Lewis chess pieces and other masterpieces owned by the trustees of the British Museum to museums in France.
