France's Macron makes a state visit to the U.K. with migration and Ukraine on the agenda

French President Emmanuel Macron arrives in Britain on Tuesday for a state visit mixing royal pageantry with thorny political talks about stopping migrants from crossing the English Channel in small boats.

LONDON — French President Emmanuel Macron arrives in Britain on Tuesday for a state visit mixing royal pageantry with thorny political talks about stopping migrants from crossing the English Channel in small boats.

Macron and Prime Minister Keir Starmer will also try to advance plans for a post-ceasefire security force for Ukraine, despite apparent U.S. indifference to the idea and Russia’s refusal to halt the onslaught on its neighbor.

Macron’s three-day visit, at the invitation of King Charles III, is the first state visit to the U.K. by a European Union head of state since Brexit, and a symbol of the British government’s desire to reset relations with the bloc that the U.K. acrimoniously left in 2020.

The president and his wife, Brigitte Macron, will be driven to Windsor Castle by horse-drawn carriage, greeted by a military honor guard and treated to a state banquet hosted by the king and Queen Camilla. The British royals made a state visit to France in September 2023.

Macron also will address both houses of Britain’s Parliament in the building’s fabulously ornate Royal Gallery before sitting down for talks with Starmer on migration, defense and investment.