Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo's lack of brolly etiquette

You don't need to be "into" royalty, but there is such a thing as good manners, especially when playing host to a head of state (and it matters little, that it's a non-elected one).

Somehow though, for just the briefest of moments, François Hollande and the recently-elected mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, seemed to forget theirs (manners that is) during Queen Elizabeth II's three-day state visit of France last week to mark the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings.

Their collective faux pas (let's keep this French) happened at the end of the visit as Hollande and Hidalgo accompanied their guest to the flower market in the capital's IV arrondissement to a ceremony at which it would be renamed in her honour "Marche aux Fleurs - Reine Elizabeth II"

(screenshot i>Télé)

There was just the slightest of drizzles in the air as the trio made their way on foot to the flower market.

Hollande, well used to the rain (who can forget how the heavens opened to "rain on his parade" just after he had been inaugurated president back in May 2012) didn't blink twice as a few drops fell.

And the Queen, clearly a hardy soul and always prepared, simply opened (or had it opened for her) a modest but clearly regal personal transparent umbrella (so that "one" could best be seen by the adoring crowds presumably).

Hidalgo though was having none of it and instead was accompanied by a "factotum" carrying the largest black brolly covering...well, just her really (click on this link to see the photo).

Of course in the grand scheme of things, it wasn't that important and certainly far from being dramatic but for the French weekly news magazine Le Point, it "spoke volumes about the characters involved."

"It's hard to believe your eyes," went the rather tongue-in-cheek piece.

"Elizabeth II, 88-year-old sovereign for 62 years, holding her own umbrella while Anne Hidalgo, not yet 55 years old and mayor for just over two months has someone else holding hers....Shocking!"

(screenshot BFM TV report

Elizabeth II, reine du marché aux fleurs - Le 07/06/2014 à 15h30

Serving up French diplomacy - the François Hollande way

If ever you doubted François Hollande's capacities as a world leader or his talents at practising that oh-so delicate yet famous art of French diplomacy, you may be reassured.

As the host of this year's 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings and the Battle of Normandy, the French president found the ideal way of meeting and greeting world leaders as they assembled for Friday's events - and ensuring that nobody had their nose proverbially put out of joint.

And he managed it with bonhomie - helped along with a healthy appetite or at least a gastronomic capacity which would make any man proud.

First up Hollande played host to Queen Elizabeth II at the Elysée palace.

Tea for two - and a few more - presumably along with something to take the edge off his appetite as he had a hard evening of chow down power talking ahead of him.

Then it was off to Michelin starred chef Guy Savoy's restaurant Le Chiberta in the VIII arrondissement of Paris for dinner with the US president Barack Obama (and entourage).

On the menu, according to Savoy who tweeted (what else?)  what he had  prepared - blue lobster salad and Normandy sea bass as the two men (and entourages) talked (but hopefully not with their mouths full) politics.

(screenshot Guy Savoy Twitter)

And then back to the Elysée palace (because of course Hollande had a "double dinner date dilemma") for what was described as a "light supper" (doesn't that just make the mind boggle) with Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Ah yes. Hollande - willing to sacrifice all - and especially his waistline - for the sake of keeping everyone happy.

François Hollande at the Salon de l'Agriculture, February 2014 (screenshot collage from Le Petit Journal Zapping)

And he hasn't finished yet.

Because after Friday's memorial celebrations in Normandy, he'll be hotfooting (or more likely helicoptering) it back to Paris and the Elysée palace once again for a state banquet with Queen Elizabeth II as the guest of honour.

http://news.yahoo.com/france-pulls-stops-super-guest-honour-queen-elizabeth-170945179.html

Chapeau M. Le President.

Alka Selzer?

Full speed ahead M. le Président - François Hollande filmed speeding

So François Hollande is normal! Well, in presidential terms anyway.

He was filmed speeding on his way from Paris to Normandy on Wednesday, and the French media is having a light-hearted field day with the story.

François Hollande's route (screenshot BFM TV report)

All right, Hollande wasn't actually at the wheel. But the car in which he was being driven (très normal, n'est-ce pas?) was clocked going at almost 140 kms per hour in a zone where the speed limit was set at 70 kms per hour.

And that apparently wasn't the only "misdemeanour".

His car reached speeds of almost 180 kms per hour on the motorway (the limit in France is 130) and failed to stop at the toll booth to pay.

François Hollande at D-Day landing ceremony (screenshot BFM TV)

Hollande, who's not exactly known for his perfect timekeeping, was on his way to attend a ceremony to mark the D-Day landings in 1944 and, in true paparrazi-style befitting the coverage of a president's movements, several reporters went along for the ride.

Not in the same vehicle mind you, but on motorbikes and cars trying to keep pace with Hollande.

Hence they knew exactly what speed his car was going.

Among them was a team from the rolling news channel BFM TV, happy to be one of the first to report the "scoop" that Hollande had been setting an example to the rest of us which was far from being "exemplary".

At this point it's probably worth remembering a particular clause in that "code of conduct" Hollande had all the newly-appointed government ministers sign when they took office: "to respect the rules of the road when they were driving or being driven."

  
BFM helpfully calculated what sort of punishments we more "ordinary" citizens would face if caught

They include a €3,750 fine, the immediate suspension of a driving licence for three years, six points lost and expropriation of the vehicle.

Thank goodness Hollande isn't quite as "normal" as the rest of us.

Sarkozy's D-Day diplomatic faux pas or outright snub to Queen?

June 6 marks the 65th anniversary of the D-Day landings.

There'll be a special ceremony hosted by the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, with the guest of honour being his US counterpart, Barack Obama.

Not present however will be Britain's Queen Elizabeth II.

She hasn't been officially "invited".

Over the past week sections of the British press have worked themselves into something of a tizzy over the lack of an invitation with the tabloids of course initially interpreting it as a "snub to the Queen"

The British monarch was reported to be "fuming", a claim later countered by Buckingham Palace officials and the British ambassador to France, Sir Peter Westmacott, who denied on French national radio speculation that the Queen was ""upset"".

After Luc Chatel, a spokesman for the French government, said the Queen would "naturally" be welcome as the British head of state, the tone in the media across the channel changed somewhat.

"French D-Day surrender: Sarkozy makes U-turn and says Queen IS welcome at 65th anniversary," ran the headline in the Daily Mail in an article insisting that the French had caved in to the apparent "fury" there had been back in Britain over the failure to issue an official invitation.

That probably wasn't quite what Chatel had meant as he had also made it clear that the ceremony on June 6 was primarily a Franco-American one and that it had been up to British and not French officials to decide who would represent their country.

In other words, the fault lay fairly and squarely with the British government and the prime minister, Gordon Brown, to whom the invitation had been extended in the first place.

And so the story rumbled on. Of course the Queen's diary is not exactly one which allows a great deal of flexibility, with reportedly up to six months needed to prepare for events abroad.

So with just days before the ceremony was due to take place it was unlikely that she would be able to attend.

But a last-minute solution has been found, in the form of Prince Charles, who is apparently due to attend instead.

So who's to blame for what has after all been rather a messy diplomatic mix-up?

Maybe the kindest explanation would be that it was a simple faux pas on the part of the French president and his advisors or at the very least a clumsy lack of communication between French and British officials.

Maybe the fault lies with Downing Street and the British government, with someone, somewhere not doing their job.

But somehow it's hard not to feel that France should have "known better".

The Queen is after all the only serving head of state to have actually served (as a mechanic) in the war.

And saying that the ceremony is "primarily a Franco-American one", would surely seem to be more than a little insulting to the memory of those British (and other nationalities) who played their part in the D-Day landings, as well as compounding an error that should never have occurred in the first place.

Perhaps when all is said and done, the British media wasn't so far off the mark and the whole sorry tale was indeed an outright snub on the part of Sarkozy, who - if one were feeling less than generous - could be seen as preferring and hoping to bask in the glory of playing host to the US president without a possible shadow being cast over him by the presence of the British monarch.