Emmanuel Macron hits back after King Charles tells Trump 'you'd be speaking French' if not for the British
Emmanuel Macron has joined in on the fun after King Charles joked to a room of Americans that 'you'd be speaking French' if it wasn't for the British.
Charles had made the joke in response to Trump's recent comments in Switzerland, where he told diplomats and officials from many nations: "Without us, right now you'd all be speaking German and Japanese, perhaps."
He wasn't trying to tell a joke there, unlike King Charles during his recent state dinner in Washington where he said: "You recently commented, Mr President, that if it were not for the United States, European countries would be speaking German.
"Dare I say that if it wasn't for us, you'd be speaking French..."
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It seems as though the French president would actually prefer it like that.
Macron shared a clip of the moment and said: "That would be chic!"
It would certainly make French more likely to be the lingua franca of the world instead of English, meaning wherever Macron went in the world there's a good chance he wouldn't have to switch languages.
It's all a bit of good-natured fun in the end though, as Charles made sure to say: "Of course, we both love our French cousins greatly."
The joke went down very well in the room, though perhaps some of the people laughing along did so only because everyone else did.
The historical context behind King Charles' joke at the White House State Dinner
If you want to know why it's funny then we'll have to go back to the middle of the 18th century before there was a United States, when a British officer called George Washington (yes, that one) blundered into a monumental f**kup where he got into a fight with French forces in America, got trapped in a fort and had to surrender.
At this point in history the British, French and Spanish were fighting for control of the Americas, a power struggle that would be won by none of them in the end.
He didn't know it at the time, but Washington's mistake that kicked off a global conflict some regard as the first actual world war, but history records as the Seven Years War (it was actually six and a bit), turned out to be an excellent career move.
The British ended up on the winning side against the French, diminishing their influence in the area, but spent a lot of money and wanted their colonies in America to start contributing to the cost of their own defence.
Eventually, there'd be a war over this 'taxation without representation' thing, which resulted in the world getting a new country, you might have heard of it.
Now, a couple of centuries later, the British, French and Americans can see the funny side.
Speaking of letting bygones be bygones, Charles also joked about the British burning down the White House in 1814 during the War of 1812 (a rather poorly named conflict, as it turns out), as he referenced Trump's attempts to redevelop the president's home by saying the Brits 'had made our own small attempt at real estate redevelopment of the White House in 1814'.
What was on the menu at the White House state dinner?
First course
Hearts of palm salad and garden herb velouté sauce with toasted shallots.
Second course
Handcrafted spring herb ravioli with herbs from the White House Kitchen Garden, filled with creamy ricotta, morels, with a light parmesan emulsion.
Main course
Dover sole meunière in a nutty brown butter with tender spring ramps, sweet snow peas, layered potatoes pavé, and a parsley oil.
Dessert
Beehive-shaped chocolate gâteau with a vanilla bean crémeux custard, set inside with an almond joconde, served with crème fraîche ice cream and White House honey.
Drinks
A selection of wines was also presented to ‘complement the menu while honouring the shared heritage and enduring friendship between the United States and the United Kingdom’, the White House said.
Topics: Emmanuel Macron, Donald Trump, Royal Family, King Charles III
Joe Harker