How King Charles still took centre stage in Paris as his State Visit was postponed

It was meant to be the setting for the first outgoing State Visit of his reign but while King Charles won’t be in Paris this weekend as planned, one version of the monarch has made its debut in the French capital. A new waxwork of The King was unveiled there, just as President Emmanuel Macron announced that the planned visit was off.

This version of King Charles is on display at the city’s’ famous waxwork exhibition, the Musee Grevin. It shows The King wearing a kilt with a jacket, waistcoat, shirt and tie and his favourite blue buttonhole.

The oldest person ever to ascend the British throne is shown with a head of grey hair, verging on the white and the wax version of his face shows a few signs of ageing.

Symbolically, the waxwork of King Charles is at the front of the royal display while that of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, stands behind, a sign of the change of reign.

The waxwork went on show just as the Elysee Palace announced that the State Visit, due to start on March 26th 2023, was postponed. The decision comes as violent protests continue over pension reforms and the way President Macron is handling them. Paris has seen clashes between demonstrators and police while rubbish has been burned in the streets. Bordeaux, the other city on the royal schedule, has also been hit with the town hall set on fire on March 23rd 2023.

Waxwork museums became popular across Europe through the work of Marie Tussaud who started making models in the 1770s but who developed her craft during the French Revolution when she created waxworks of victims of the guillotine.

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