Secular republic or Catholic monarchy?
Royal and papal visits in the same week.
France, formally known as the French Republic, is renowned for its republican form of government with a zealous separation of church and state. When the blade of the guillotine mounted on the scaffold of the then-Place de la Révolution (now Place de la Concorde) in Paris severed King Louis XVI’s head on January 21, 1793, the anti-monarchical act sent a chill through the royal and noble houses of Europe. The French Revolution also saw the creation of the short-lived Cult of the Supreme Being in 1794, meant to replace the Roman Catholic Church.
Since the Revolution, the twin struggles between monarchy and republic and between religion and secularism have continued to this day. The current political equilibrium is legally defined by the Constitution of the Fifth Republic, article 1 of which states that “France shall be an indivisible, secular, democratic and social Republic.” While enshrined in the constitution in 1958, French laïcité can be traced to the 1905 Law on the Separation of the Churches and State, which greatly restricted the influence of the Catholic Church over the state and public life.
Today, secularism animates political debate like few other issues, with the newly named education minister, Gabriel Attal, banning the wearing of the abaya in schools on August 27. According to Attal, “You shouldn’t be able to determine a student's religion by walking into a classroom.” For the French Council of the Muslim Faith, though, the abaya isn’t a Muslim religious symbol, and Action for the Rights of Muslims said that it’s a traditional, rather than religious, garment in its appeal before the Conseil d’État. The high court upheld the ban.
Which brings us to last week. While much of the world was turned toward New York and the UN General Assembly, President Emmanuel Macron left it to his foreign affairs minister, Catherine Colonna, to cross the Atlantic. Macron stayed on French soil, to welcome first King Charles III and Queen Camilla of the United Kingdom in a state visit from Wednesday to Friday, then Pope Francis in a mass at Marseille’s Vélodrome stadium on Saturday.
It’s perfectly normal for the French president (known at home as the président de la République) to meet with the British monarch — they’re the heads of state of neighboring countries separated only by the English Channel. As Macron showed in a video on X, Charles had traveled to France numerous times as Prince of Wales. On this visit, Charles’ diplomatic objective was to mend UK–France relations seven years after the Brexit vote, and the Élysée rolled out the red carpet for him and the queen consort.
The images were striking. Macron leaned into the visit online, making the state visit the top priority on the presidency’s website and devoting 10 Instagram posts to it. He chose Versailles — the last residence of Louis XVI before he and Marie-Antoinette were moved to Paris in 1789 at the beginning of the Revolution — to host the state dinner on Wednesday, where he began his toast with the words “Sire, Votre Majesté.” (You may be interested to know that Charles gave most of his toast, as well as a subsequent speech to the Senate, in French.)
This was consummate French hospitality in a setting that exemplifies French architectural excellence and political power, and which has been totally integrated into the republican state. It was also a president who is regularly called “Jupiterian” for his tendency to rule by decree welcoming a foreign monarch whose name harks back to Charles I, who was executed by his people. It could be easy to forget amid the convivialité and Macron’s friendly placing of hands on the royal person (against protocol) that this visit was initially planned in March, when mass protests against Macron’s pension reform — which he pushed through Parliament via article 49.3 of the Constitution — risked “let them eat cake” optics.
On Saturday, Macron (along with interior minister Gérald Darmanin and European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde) sat in the stands during Pope Francis’ mass in Marseille, which the pontiff opened with the words, “Bonjour Marseille, bonjour la France.” Macron also met one-on-one with the pope to discuss Ukraine, immigration and the environment, and accompanied him to the airport after the mass.
Macron attended the mass in his official capacity as president, but many on the left criticized the move as an affront to France’s secular principles. According to Le Monde, Macron took the opportunity to mingle with the Catholic faithful, including taking selfies with attendees. It’s hard not to note the political benefits that the president could reap from this photo op, given that his centrist party Renaissance eclipsed the traditional mainstream conservative party Les Républicains in the 2022 presidential election, and 40% of French Catholics voted for far-right candidates.
The royal and papal visits of last week can be read simply as the efforts of an energetic président de la République, guarantor of the secular constitution of the Fifth Republic, to shore up the Entente Cordiale with the UK and to welcome the pope as a fellow head of state. But they also present a vivid reminder that the monarchic and Catholic threads of French history are clearly visible in today’s political fabric.
PS: This photo of Anne Hidalgo, mayor of Paris, with Camilla and Charles tickled me! A socialist and former labor inspector, Hidalgo regularly welcomes foreign dignitaries as she positions her city as a global capital and herself as the leader of an ambitious international agenda on climate action and human rights.
And so ends the first edition of Nikhil Translates French News. Thanks for subscribing, let me know what you think, and please forward this to anyone who might find it interesting!
A la prochaine ! Until next time.
There is in fact a persistent strain of monarchism in France. More than 170 years after the fall of the last king and 150 years after the fall of the last emperor, 10-20% of the French, if the polling is accurate, are in favour of restoring one or another of the former reigning dynasties.
I love how you're able to relay political pageantry in such a relatable and visceral way!