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 The announcement, a day before French President Emmanuel Macron
is due to visit Britain for talks with Prime Minister Theresa
May, was greeted with enthusiasm in Britain where the tapestry
has powerful historical resonance.
"This is huge. This is an extraordinary diplomatic outreach by
the president of France and a fantastic gesture of goodwill from
one of our nearest and closest allies," said lawmaker Tom
Tugendhat, chair of parliament's foreign affairs committee.
"It's a fantastic opportunity for the British people to see one
of the seminal works in our national history," he said during an
interview on BBC radio.
The 70-metre long tapestry, whose precise origins are obscure
and which has not left France in its nearly 950-year known
history, is currently on display in the town of Bayeux, in the
northwestern French region of Normandy.
The Elysee official said the loan was agreed in principle but
would not take place for several years because work needed to be
done on the tapestry to ensure it was safe to move it.
"It's very symbolic for France and maybe even more for the UK,"
he said.
The invasion of England by Duke William of Normandy, better
known as William the Conqueror, and his victory over the
Anglo-Saxon King Harold at the Battle of Hastings, changed the
course of English history.
The Norman conquest transformed England's language, laws,
customs and architecture, and Queen Elizabeth is the 40th
monarch in a royal line that traces its origin back to William
the Conqueror.
"EMMANUEL THE CONQUEROR"
There is no consensus on where the tapestry was made. Some
researchers believe it was made in Kent, southern England, but
many others have pointed to locations in France.
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May is likely to hail the loan as a sign of the strong friendship
between Paris and London, which like Britain's relations with other
European nations is under strain because of the United Kingdom's
looming exit from the European Union.
The Elysee official said the loan fitted into Macron's strategy for
the revival of European sovereignty and democracy, detailed in a
speech in Athens in September last year during which he spoke about
the importance of cultural and historic ties between European
nations.
"The president had insisted during his speech in Athens on a Europe
of culture and the arts, and it’s important to put this in practice
with our British neighbors to symbolize the strength of our
historical relationship," said the official.
The Times newspaper's cartoonist Peter Brookes linked Bayeux and
Brexit in his offering in Wednesday's edition, which was drawn in
the style of the tapestry.
It depicted Macron as "Emmanuel the Conqueror" riding forth with a
confident smile as May, brandishing a Brexit banner, received an
arrow in the eye -- the fate that befell King Harold according to
the tapestry.
Britain's foreign minister Boris Johnson was depicted slumped
forward on a horse with two arrows in his bottom.
(Additional reporting by Jean-Baptiste Vey in Paris, writing by
Estelle Shirbon; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)
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