Sarkozy will stay with Queen Elizabeth, address parliament and meet Prime Minister Gordon Brown as he seeks to build a stronger alliance with Britain during a two-day visit. “I want a new Franco-British brotherhood,” Sarkozy told the BBC in an interview broadcast on Wednesday.
Accompanied by his new wife and former model Carla Bruni, Sarkozy was met at Heathrow airport by Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall. Several British newspapers marked the visit by printing an old picture of Bruni posing nude. It is the first state visit by a French president since Jacques Chirac came in 1996.
Boycotting Olympics?
Sending a strong message to China, Sarkozy has become the first world leader to suggest that he might boycott the upcoming summer Olympics over China’s crackdown in Tibet.
Commencing a two-day visit to Britain, Sarkozy signalled that he might stay away from the opening ceremony on August 8 unless the Chinese authorities exercised restraint in dealing with the Tibetan independence movement and opened talks with the Dalai Lama.
The statement came as Britain made it clear that it would allow Tibetan protestors to demonstrate in London when the Olympic flame comes here next month.