Camilla’s style sister
Mon dieu! There’s a new Anglo-French alliance - Queen Camilla and Brigitte Macron
A regal Camilla wowed the world wearing a magnificent Dior creation on the red carpet at the Palace of Versailles and, just minutes before facing the press, there was Brigitte, France’s First Lady, helping Her Majesty with her billowing Haute Couture cape. Both wearing stunning midnight blue outfits (Brigitte in her favourite designer, Louis Vuitton), their choice of matching hues was surely a premeditated sign of unity.
In 1904, the Entente Cordiale ushered in a new era of cooperation between Britain and France, now almost 120 years later, Camilla and Brigitte’s fashion twinning and their easy rapport have injected some much-needed ‘ooh la la’ into post-Brexit Franco-British relations.
It’s fair to say, the King and Queen’s first state visit to France has been a soaraway success. With Charles charming everyone with his speech at Versailles’ Hall of Mirrors banquet and his historic address to the French Senate, confidently cracking jokes in his perfect French, but we were obsessed with Camilla and Brigitte’s sisterly double act, the standout stars of the three-day trip. As far as The Royal List is concerned these incredible women are our poster girls for elegance and resilience.
In fact, Camilla and Brigitte have a lot in common. Both in their 70s, Camilla is 76 and Brigitte, 70, the parallels are uncanny. Both living lives of public service due to the men they fell in love with. Both loving mums, Camilla has two children and Brigitte three. And both relied heavily on their families for support, as they triumphed over scandal and pillory to finally walk down the aisle to marry their second husbands, within two years of each other (Camilla in 2005 and Brigitte in 2007).
Here are our fab five reasons why we couldn’t get enough of them…
1. Rocking it as fashion queens: They wowed the world with their co-ordinated navy outfits at the Versailles banquet. Both flying the flag for French Haute Couture houses, Dior and Louis Vuitton.
2. They’re sweetly supportive: When Camilla’s Dior cape came unstuck, Brigitte gave Camilla a helping hand. The following day, as Camilla attended a discussion with domestic abuse victims, she scanned the room for Mrs Macron, saying, “Oh there she is. You are right behind me as usual.”
3. They love a laugh: At an engagement in the French National Library, the pair were giggling and having a great time. Again, later in the day, when the Queen impressed all comers with her table tennis skills, Brigitte (a former figure skater in her youth) cheered her on.
4. Literature is their passion: Brigitte, a former school teacher, has a master’s degree in literature, and we all know how much our Queen loves a cracking read, promoting literacy with her innovative The Queen’s Reading Room and supporting numerous charities. So, it was only natural tha Camilla and Brigitte teamed up this week to launch the La Prix de L’Entente Litteraire, a UK-French prize for young adult fiction.
5. They make their husbands happier leaders: Charles famously declared to the late Queen that his relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles was “non-negotiable”. According to an unofficial biography on Brigitte, this is exactly what President Emmanuel Macron said about his second wife, who is 24 years older than him. Brigitte is reported to read through his speeches and has sat in on official meetings.
We’re raising a toast to Camilla and Brigitte – the new style sisters who will always have Paris!
William takes New York
Prince William has proved as popular as his mum Princess Diana was, in New York, as he charmed the Big Apple, this week.
The Prince of Wales was Stateside for a two-day visit, to unveil the 15 finalists of this year’s Earthshot Prize. He took a commercial flight to the USA and said, “The challenge may feel huge, but as John F Kennedy taught us, we rise to the challenge not because it is easy, but because it is hard. And vital.”
And he got a rapturous reception, as well-wishers enthused how he got stuck in – including wading into the Hudson River as part of the Billion Oyster conservation project. “What a gentleman, how he stops to say hello to everyone. The royals are ours too, Americans love them just as much,” wrote one US fan on Instagram.
He also visited a Manhattan firehouse and met the UN Secretary General.
Catherine’s lifejacket laugh
The Princess of Wales was taken by surprise this week… by a lifejacket. As Commodore-in-Chief of the Fleet Air Arm, the royal was visiting the Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton in Somerset, when she tried on the life-saving item during an exercise with rescue and survival equipment. Pulling the lifejacket’s cord, Catherine was taken by surprise at how quickly it inflated and burst into laughter.
During the Monday visit, the Princess spent time in the air traffic control tower and spoke over the radio with the crew of a Wildcat helicopter. The following day, Catherine was in east London at Streets of Growth, a youth intervention charity helping vulnerable people.
“Young people get judged on their external behaviour but you have to understand their backstory,” she said, while talking to a team from the charity. “They haven’t probably seen trusting relationships in their lives so that’s so important.”
The King and the bikers
A group of mountain bikers were in for a surprise as they cycled round the Balmoral Estate recently, when they bumped into the King on a walk.
Andrew McAvoy, who has a YouTube channel McTrail Rider, posted a video of him and friends leaving the Royal Bothy and embarking on a rainy ride, before they encountered Charles on a solo walk. The King had plenty of time to chat and agreed the midges were terrible this year, before revealing he used to camp in the nearby lodge when he was a child. “We used to, with my father and sister. It’s occasionally used nowadays by another generation,” he said.
Describing himself as anti-establishment, McAvoy had to concede the King had slightly changed his mind. “Lovely man, had time for us. I’m annoyed because I didn’t want to care, but that was nice,” he said.
Camilla’s Chanel shoe-in
Finally, if you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to walk a mile in the Queen’s shoes, Kerry pondered just this in her column for The Sunday Telegraph this week. Having watched Camilla walk around France in heels, she’s been marvelling at how she does it at 76. And she found the answer – Camilla is a big fan of comfy heel-brand Sole Bliss, which makes stylish shoes with hidden bunion panels.
She also loves her Chanel and wore her favourite two-tone shoes on a visit to Chanel artisan hub 19m, which partnered with The Princes Foundation. If you adore Chanel, like Camilla, check out the fabulous new retrospective at the V&A. Kerry reviewed it in our sister newsletter The British Travel List, here.