King and Queen arrive to cheering crowds in Bordeaux and sample 'very good' red wine
As the King and Queen's state visit to France came to close, with a trip to Bordeaux, as ITV News Royal Editor Chris Ship reports
The King and Queen arrived to cheering crowds in Bordeaux on the final day of their state visit to France.
While there, the royal couple sampled some "very good" wine in south-western France before touring a vineyard ran by a couple of the 39,000 Britons who live in the region.
Charles and Camilla sampled a bottle of red wine from the year of their wedding at the Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte, an organic vineyard outside Bordeaux in south-west France.
The King said the 2005 red, which he sipped, having already had a few tipples around the city earlier on Friday, was “very good”.
He and Camilla were given a tour of the vineyard, where they walked past hundreds of barrels of red wine in the cellars.
The King remarked: “This is lovely stuff.”
Florence Cathiard, who owns the vineyard with her husband Daniel, produced the 2005 vintage from the private cellars at her house on the estate and declined to put a price on it.
She said: “It’s one of our best vintages. It’s perfect and it happened to be the year of their wedding.”
Charles and Camilla were given a case of two bottles of 2022 cuvee royale red to take with them.
Charles and Camilla flew from Paris to Bordeaux on Friday, a change from their original plans amid French media leaks.
Camilla was handed a bouquet of flowers after she and Charles greeted hundreds of well-wishers outside Bordeaux’s town hall on Friday afternoon.
Locals waved French and Union flags, and shouted “God Save The King”.
Butcher Georges Britouille, 57, said: “This, for us, is historic, to have the King visit where we live is something to be remembered.”
Camilla wore earrings and the late Queen Elizabeth II’s diamond brooch.
They were shown photographs of the King’s visit to the city in 1977, as well as the late Queen Elizabeth II’s stop there in 1992.
Charles and Camilla met the Mayor of Bristol Marvin Rees and his Bordeaux counterpart Pierre Hurmic before being shown a memorandum of understanding – a document outlining an agreement – between the two cities.
They signed the town hall’s guest book before going out to the garden to plant a loquat leaf oak tree. Charles could be seen laughing as Camilla poured water on the plant, saying “very good”.
The visit came after they had boarded a tram to a festival, part of the UK government’s campaign to promote British trade, in the city centre.
The King visited a stall run by the Gilbert rugby company, where he successfully threw a ball through a hole as part of a challenge.
He was persuaded to try some Cotswolds’ whisky, which head of sales Hughes Roberts-Baby said was made with barley from Highgrove, Charles and Camilla’s home in Gloucestershire.
Mr Roberts-Baby said: “He loved it.”
The King and Queen received a warm welcome as they toured HMS Iron Duke
Charles received a warm welcome as he toured the flight deck of HMS Iron Duke in Bordeaux.
The monarch was pictured holding an umbrella as he greeted Britain's foreign secretary James Cleverly and his wife Susannah, who were also in attendance.
The visit is to highlight the defence ties between France and the United Kingdom.
During his visit on Friday, Charles also heard about the effects of climate change on forest fires, while Camilla meet a local charity supporting disadvantaged people.
The King said in his historic address to the French Parliament on Thursday the “shared link” between the two cities is just one of a “countless number of connections” between the UK and France.
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