Macron visits London in first foreign trip since coronavirus lockdown

The primary purpose of the visit was to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Charles de Gaulle's historic radio broadcast from London on June 18, 1940, when he sounded the first call for French resistance to Nazi Germany in World War II.

Macron's crossing of the English Channel was heavy with ceremony. There were flyovers, first in Paris and then in London, performed by Alpha jets from the French air force's Patrouille de France and the Royal Air Force Red Arrows.

But some of the pomp was punctured by the need to be mindful of social distancing guidelines.

Britain's Prince Charles greeted Macron with a namaste gesture during a commemorative event at Carlton Gardens, near a statue of de Gaulle's. Prime Minister Boris Johnson awkwardly directed the French leader to stand on the opposite side of a red carpet during a photo call outside 10 Downing Street.

Johnson and Charles were among the most prominent people in the world to contract the coronavirus.

Johnson, 55, battled the virus for weeks and spent several nights in an intensive care unit.

Charles, 71, said this week that he has not fully recovered his sense of smell since getting the virus in March, the BBC reported.

His meet-and-greet with Macron, which included a cup of English tea, marked his first face-to-face "engagement," as such events are called, with a world leader in months.

But such meetings are becoming possible again in Europe. Even as coronavirus cases are rising around the world, and several U.S. states have seen spikes in infections, Europe seems to have brought its outbreak under control. The continent hasn't seen a resurgence after nearly a month of loosened lockdown restrictions in certain countries.

On Monday, France joined much of Europe in officially reopening its borders. The French Foreign Ministry no longer requires a 14-day quarantine for most new arrivals from within the European Union, and France will gradually reopen its borders to travelers from outside the E.U. starting July 1.

But Britain, which has seen the highest death toll in Europe, has lagged behind its neighbors in lifting restrictions. It requires a two-week quarantine for most people coming into the country.

Macron's delegation had to receive a special dispensation to enter for Thursday's short visit.

There was no indication after Thursday's meeting that the British government would revisit its quarantine policy more broadly, even considering that France wasn't hit by the virus as badly as Britain was. As of Thursday, France had recorded 29,575 deaths, while Britain had recorded 42,153.

For now, in response to Britain's blanket quarantine, France is asking visitors from the United Kingdom to voluntarily quarantine for two weeks.

Any tensions on Tuesday, though, remained out-of-view.

At Carlton Gardens, Macron bestowed the Légion d'Honneur, France's highest order of merit, on the city of London, which he heralded as a capital of resistance.

He thanked Britain for sharing with France its "first weapon, a BBC microphone" that was used by de Gaulle to give his address.

And he extolled the stoic virtue of "keep calm and carry on," the classic phrase introduced in British government posters leading up to the outbreak of World War II. "This slogan remains for posterity the motto of British courage, that everyday sang-froid and modest heroism," he said. "For Free France, this was a supreme example that she would take with her like a viaticum wherever her epic led her."

Later, Macron met Johnson at 10 Downing Street, where the prime minister gave him framed copies of the telegrams exchanged between de Gaulle and Winston Churchill on V-E Day, Johnson's office said.

The two leaders agreed that partnership would be "crucial in overcoming the coronavirus pandemic and ensuring the global recovery is green and sustainable," according to a Downing Street statement summarizing the 30-minute conversation.

On the question of what will happen when a Brexit transition period expires at the end of the year, Downing Street said the two sides "welcomed the agreement to intensify talks in July and underlined that the U.K. does not believe it makes sense for there to be prolonged negotiations into the autumn."

France has been growing frustrated over the stalled Brexit talks, with Britain still holding out the possibility that it could walk away without a deal on the future relationship. In Thursday's meeting, Macron recalled France's "attachment to an agreement," according to the Élysée readout.

Relations between Britain and France are "scratchy," said Quentin Peel, an associate fellow at the London think tank Chatham House. Macron, he said, is trying to reconcile a sense of French sovereignty with a sense of European integration, whereas Johnson has taken the position that Britain can only have sovereignty if it breaks from the E.U. "That's a pretty fundamental difference between the two," he said.

During the long and sometimes tortuous Brexit negotiations in recent years, France stood out among the other E.U. nations in taking a tough line. "The French attitude has been, 'go, if you want to go, then go. We may be able to do more without you in Europe'" said Peel. The Germans, by comparison, have a deeper sense of regret at Britain's departure, he said.

Dominique Moïsi, a former foreign policy adviser to the Macron campaign, assessed that with Thursday's visit, the French president would have wanted to convey: "Yes, we have our difficulties with Brexit, with covid, but what happened in 1940 was fundamental" and a good bilateral relationship with Britain remains important.

"In a way, it goes back to a traditional French policy," Moïsi said. "The more Germany is the powerful one in the Franco-German couple, the more it's essential that we balance that with an excellent relationship with Great Britain."

Peel pointed out that Macron had come to London in part to celebrate de Gaulle, who in 1963 famously said "non" to U.K. membership of the Common Market, the precursor to the E.U.

But although Brexit has been an irritant to Anglo-French relations, it's nonetheless a hugely important relationship. France is second only to Spain as a top tourist destination for holiday-loving Brits. There has also been a surge in French coming to live in London in recent years. When Johnson was mayor of London, he once quipped that there were about 250,000 French people in London and that made him mayor of the sixth biggest French city on earth.

British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told the BBC on Thursday the despite all the tiffs between the two countries, over Brexit and quarantines, there really is nothing like neighbors.