I recall with such fond memories our visit to France in 2023, when you so graciously hosted us, Monsieur le Président.
Much has happened in the meantime, and France and the United Kingdom have stood ever closer since then.
At this crucial point in our shared histories, your visit is another occasion to celebrate our deep and enduring friendship.
Indeed, these ties extend beyond friendship into family.
The castle in which we meet this evening was begun by my ancestor and your sometime countryman, William, Duke of Normandy, in the year 1070.
It remains the oldest and largest occupied castle in the world.
So it is perhaps rather appropriate that my son, the Prince of Wales, who shares that earlier William's name, has made Windsor his home with his family, like so many of our predecessors.
The Norman English society that was established by William the Conqueror was neither, at least initially, an entente, nor especially cordial.
But it marked, on one view, the beginning of 1,000 years of shared history and culture between our two peoples, which has enriched our two societies beyond measure.
Louis-Philippe, King of the French stayed here as a guest of my great-great-great grandmother, Queen Victoria, in 1844.
