Prince Charles and France's President Emmanuel Macron disregarded social distancing protocols as pictures from their face-to-face meeting in London on June 18 showed the president touching the Prince of Wales by the arm.
Reports showed that the royal and the French official were walking closely side by side each other and also ignored the two-meter-apart rule for physical distancing as they were inspecting the Guards of Honour at Prince Charles' residence, Clarence House. Earlier, however, Prince Charles and Macron greeted each other with a Namaste hand sign instead of the usual handshake.
Marcron arrived in London to celebrate the 80th anniversary of General Charles de Gaulle's Appelle or the wartime broadcast. Prince Charles was accompanied by his wife, Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, in welcoming Macron. The duchess observed social distancing and simply bowed her head to greet the French dignitaries.
This was the very first public engagement for Prince Charles and Camilla, who have been isolating in Scotland for the last three months. Prince Charles also got mildly sick from the coronavirus as soon as he arrived in Birkhall in late March.
Upon seeing the photos of the Prince of Wales walking close to Macron, some royal fans remarked on social media that there was no point to the lockdown for the last 12 weeks. Royal observers were not pleased that the royal and the French president broke a safety measure to ensure that the virus will not spread in a mass gathering. They were also not happy that the royals were allowed to "socialize" while most people are still expected to stay at home to prevent more COVID-19 cases.
According to Daily Express, Macron and his entourage were exempted from undergoing the 14-day quarantine when they arrived from France to London. Currently, all arrivals to the U.K. must be subjected to the quarantine but there may be some exemptions and privileges granted to some personalities and even public service goods and transport.
According to The Guardian, Macron will actually speak to Prime Minister Boris Johnson about foregoing the mandatory 14-day quarantine rule to French visitors to the U.K. In France, British visitors are subjected to "voluntary" quarantine.
Meanwhile, Prince Charles gave a speech at the open-air event in fluent French, which apparently stunned royal fans. Macron, on the other hand, bestowed the Legion d'Honneur, France's highest honor for allies, to the City of London.
