Playing ping-pong, strolling through a Bordeaux vineyard, dodging raindrops at a Paris flower market — Britain’s King Charles III and Queen Camilla paid a special state visit to France that at times looked richly royal, and at times strikingly ordinary.
There was plenty of pomp for Charles’ first journey to France as monarch, and red carpets every day. Champagne toasts at the Palace of Versailles. A standing ovation in the French Senate. Curtseying children waving British flags.
