President Hollande has ordered an elderly Renault out of storage to accommodate the Queen’s large hats because his official Citroën lacks headroom for Her Majesty on a state visit to Paris next week, reports The Times.
The Elysée Palace calculated that the Queen, who is paying her fifth full ceremonial official visit as part of the 70th anniversary of D-Day, would not be able to sit upright in the back of Mr Hollande’s mid-size Citroen DS5.
Since taking office in 2012 the socialist president has been using the “compact executive” Citroën model as a symbol of his modesty to contrast with the extravagent image of Nicolas Sarkozy, his predecessor. But the low roof line of the C6 Citroen limousines is too low for the Queen’s colourful headwear, which is the subject of long-standing fascination in France.
The only other spacious vehicles in the president’s stable are the people-movers used by staff and security personnel. These are deemed unfitting for the royal passenger.
High and boxy, the expensive Vel Satis was a commercial failure for Renault a decade ago and production was halted in 2009 after seven years. The model provided for the Queen is an armoured 3.5-litre V6 that has been in mothballs in the Renault company collection.
Paris is pulling out all the stops for la Reine d’Angleterre, as she is always known. After arriving on Thursday on the Eurostar, through the Channel tunnel which she inaugurated with President Mitterrand in 1994, she will be given a ceremonial welcome by Mr Hollande at the Arc de Triomphe.
Later there will be a a garden party at the British embassy, a few doors down from the Elysée Palace.
After Friday’s ceremonies by the Normandy beaches, with the Prince of Wales and much of the senior royal family, the Queen returns to a state banquet at the Elysée. She will be given an album of pictures from her first two French visits, an official trip in 1948 as Princess Elizabeth and a state visit with the Duke of Edinburgh nine years later.
Read more of this report from The Times.