King Charles hosts French President Emmanuel Macron at Windsor Castle

King Charles knows how to put on a party: call in your mates Mick Jagger and Elton John, dust off Windsor Castle, sprinkle with aristocrats and, hey presto, a shindig fit for royalty.

France’s President Emmanuel Macron, left, makes a toast with his ‘dinner date’ the Princess of Wales during a state banquet at Windsor Castle. Picture: AFP

King Charles knows how to put on a party: call in your mates Mick Jagger and Elton John, dust off Windsor Castle, sprinkle with aristocrats and, hey presto, a shindig fit for royalty.

One person who seemed suitably impressed was the guest of honour, Emmanuel Macron, who was caught winking at his dinner date for the night, the Princess of Wales.

The wink was fitting given Charles rebranded the “Entente cordiale” the “Entente amicale” as he addressed the state banquet at Windsor Castle in honour of the French President and his wife, Brigitte.

Having noted that guests had been served an English sparkling wine made by Taittinger, the French champagne house, the King said: “As we dine here in this ancient place, redolent with our shared history, allow me to propose a toast to France and to our new entente.

“An entente not only past and present, but for the future, and no longer just cordiale, but now amicale.”

He said while there was “amicable competition” and “confusion”, such as Asterix’s inability to understand the British obsession with afternoon tea, “our cultures are, after 1000 years, deeply connected”.

The Princess of Wales, wearing the lover’s knot tiara and earrings from the late Queen with a dark red silk creponne-gathered evening gown with caped back detailing, designed by Sarah Burton for Givenchy, and a lily of the valley embroidered evening clutch, joined the royal family for her first state banquet appearance since her cancer treatment.

The state banquet at Windsor Castle. Picture: Getty Images

Sir Elton and his husband, David Furnish, were among 160 guests including Sir Mick, his fiancee, Melanie Hamrick, Dame Kristin Scott Thomas, and Mary Earps, the former England footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Paris-Saint-Germain.

Raymond Blanc, the TV chef, was in the castle kitchens preparing a starter of summer vegetables with sage and tomato.

It was the first state banquet of the King’s reign to be held at Windsor Castle as the renovations continue at Buckingham Palace.

The castle provided inspiration for his speech: Charles said although it was built a “millennium ago [to] guard the western ­approach to London ... today our two countries face a multitude of more complex threats, emanating from multiple directions.

“As friends and as allies we face them together.”

Speaking in St George’s Hall which was destroyed in the 1992 fire, the King likened it to the blaze that gutted the Notre-Dame cathedral.

Mick Jagger at the banquet. Picture: Getty Images

Elton John and husband David Furnish. Picture: Getty Images

Mr Macron’s three-day visit will be dominated by politics. First, however, there was time for a good blast of pomp and pageantry. French bisous, a carriage procession and a princess in classic Dior were all part of the cross-Channel diplomacy mission rolled out by the royal family.

Greeting Mr Macron, the King was more tactile than ever, affectionately greeting him with a hearty pat on the arm as palace aides said the two men have always “clicked”.

Macron’s wife Brigitte asked to be called “Mrs” rather than “Madame” and Charles greeted her with a kiss on the hand.

Despite appearing delighted to be reacquainted with the ­Macrons, the 76-year-old monarch was showing signs of strain. A badly bloodshot right eye was brushed off by the palace as a burst blood vessel not linked to the King’s ongoing weekly cancer treatment but just “one of those things”.

Mr Macron had prefaced his arrival by saying that Britain UK and France were “two free and proud peoples who never give up”.

After a simultaneous 41-gun salute in Windsor’s Home Park and the Tower of London, the respective heads of state chatted as they were driven through Windsor in the 1902 State Landau.

The King has had to display his diplomatic skills repeatedly, and will do so again when US President Donald Trump arrives for his own state visit at Windsor Castle in September.

The Times