How to organise a state visit
The French President's wife, when she accompanied her husband on his state visit to the UK, was particularly interested in visits to do with contemporary social issues, such as schools, hospitals or housing schemes for the disadvantaged.
If you didn't notice this in the extensive coverage of Carla Bruni's contribution to Nicolas Sarkozy's trip here last month, that's because this is actually a reference to the previous 1996 French state visit, of Bernadette and Jacques Chirac.
Madame Chirac's interests are revealed in documents released to the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ following a freedom of information request for material about the 1996 state visit.
The papers are heavily redacted and it looks like the more contentious political content has not been disclosed because the Foreign Office fears it would damage Britain's relations with France. However the material released does provide intriguing insights into the protocol arrangements for a visit of this kind from another head of state.
President Chirac invited himself to tea with the Queen Mother. His wish was granted.
The British sought to cater for Chirac's enthusiasm for military machinery, primitive art and 'frequent refuelling stops'.
The British government wanted to provide Chirac with 'fifteen minutes in a photogenic pub' for some '"man of the people" publicity'. But they appeared to have difficulty finding a pub in the run-down area of Easterhouse in Glasgow (to be visited by Chirac) which was suitable for the French president to drop in on.
The French ruled out Chirac taking the royal train to Scotland or going on a farm visit (this was at the time of the row over the EU banning exports of British beef due to fears over BSE).
British officials worried about taking him to visit the Cabinet War Rooms because of 'German sensitivities'.
One running theme is the concern of British civil servants that events laid on in the City of London would emphasize traditional ceremony and undermine their attempts to present a modern image of Britain. So they told the Corporation of London to scale back on the level of the planned ceremony for an event in the City. Diplomats wanted 'less formality than the City normally lays on', and one official even wrote plaintively 'can't we keep the Lord Mayor and his flunkeys out of it?'
Asked by the then Prime Minister John Major for some 'eye-catching wording' on France and NATO to use at a press conference, officials swayed between describing NATO without France in it as like a party with good wine but no champagne ('French rapprochement means that the party will in future have added sparkle') or as like a television set which is not connected to its satellite dish ('an excellent service but we have known that an even fuller range of programmes could be made available').
The British government had to give the Chiracs a rhododendron because 'the clematis people have said no - for future reference they need at least one year's notice'.
Despite several expressions of intent from the Foreign Office, this material (requested in January) did not arrive in time for the Sarkozy visit. However the Foreign Office were at least cooperative about discussing what information could be supplied within the cost limit and diligent about keeping us informed about the progress of the request. This is in contrast with the Cabinet Office which has been much less helpful in attittude and has not yet responded substantively to a similar request.
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