Charles and Camilla were due to arrive in Paris on Sunday where garbage-lined streets, rats and freaked-out protesters would greet them. The symbolism couldn’t be stronger.

The mere idea of a royal today is anachronistic. President Macron himself has been accused of acting like a monarch (distant, arrogant and out of touch with the real world). And while Emmanuel and Brigitte and Charles and Camilla had planned to dine on a sumptuous meal at Versailles Palace, mobs of angry commoners would be rioting in the streets.

The event was likened to 1789.

The storming of Bastille.

On 14 July 1789, a state prison on the east side of Paris, known as the Bastille, was attacked by an aggressive mob. The prison had become a symbol of the monarchy’s dictatorial rule, and the event became one of the defining moments in the Revolution that followed.

And you know how it ended: King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were arrested and later died at the guillotine in 1793. Off with their heads!

Update: the royal visit has been postponed until a more propitious time, whenever that might be.

From The London Times – “The move came after a French intelligence agency report said “hate messages” had been circulating on social media along with calls to “spoil” the occasion of the royal visit. The French authorities were particularly concerned that a state banquet at Versailles on Monday night could have become a focal point for the protests over Macron’s pension reform bill.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/23/french-strikers-red-carpets-king-charles-camilla-visit-paris