King Charles III Has Postponed His State Visit To France. Is He Afraid of The Guillotine?
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The French resistance and its consequences for the wider world.
A few months ago, I published an article that the French public had given the Brits a masterclass on how to bring a nation to its knees.
Back when I wrote it, I was half facetious and half serious.
But things have escalated extraordinarily since then with our neighbours across the channel.
The anger and fire on the streets of Paris, Bordeaux and other parts of the country are showing no signs of abating and the police have been working overtime with very little success. In some cases, we have seen policemen, firemen and other public sector workers downing their tools to support the protesters.
The French people are profoundly determined to have their way and get their political leadership to backpedal on its decision to raise retirement age from 62 to 64 but the government is standing firm.
The ferocity of the anti-reforms movement is a bit reminiscent of the protests of the late 1960s, when les peuple Francaise took to the streets and brought the government of the day to its knees, which led to Charles de Gaulle coming out of retirement to end the fourth Republic and create a new constitution, which remains in place till this very day.
Not even the gilet jaune folks of 2017–2019 were this forceful in their agitations.
And it’s against the backdrop of anarchy that Britain’s new monarch was meant to roll into Paris to see his French equivalent —Emmanuel Macron.
But given the level of antipathy at the President who’s known for his love of pomp and pageantry, the palace courtiers and the French government advised Charles III to postpone the trip, lest he be seen as a huge part of the problem.
And with good reason too.
Across the world today, there’s a miasma of ill feeling against the political class…
