Speaking after the announcement, Macron said that “common sense and friendship” led to the decision. The second leg, a visit to G er- many on Wednesday, will go ahead as planned. The trip is now expected to be rescheduled for later in the year. However, British government sources said they had not been involved in the decision and had only found out that the French wanted to cancel the trip yesterday morning. In a statement, the Élysée Palace said the decision to postpone the visit had been taken by the French and British governments after a telephone conver- sation between Macron and the King. There were also worries that ele- ments of the King’s schedule would have to be substantially altered as it included walkabouts that were judged to be a security risk in the present climate. The château was a royal palace until the 1789 Revolution and Macron’ s aides were concerned t hat the occasion would be used to portray him as a latter-day Marie-Antoinette, out of touch with ordinary people while France went up in flames. The French authorities were particularly concerned that a state banquet at Versailles on Monday night could have become a focal point for the protests over Macron’s move to raise the state retirement age from 62 to 64. Gence agency report said “hate mes- sages” had been circulating on social media along with calls to “spoil” the occasion.
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