Published on March 24, 2023 at 5:13 p.m.
Charles III in France: these territorial intelligence notes that worried – ©Agence/Bestimage
According to two notes from territorial intelligence, the arrival of King Charles III in France jeopardized the security of the President of the Republic and that of the monarch.
Wednesday March 22, Emmanuel Macron spoke about the pension reform in an interview with Marie-Sophie Lacarrau and Julian Bugier. Shortly after the declarations of the President of the Republic, many activists rose up and declared that they were continuing the strikes. Despite this social context, Buckingham Palace claimed to maintain the arrival of King Charles III in France, scheduled for Sunday. This Friday, March 24, the Élysée finally announced in a press release that his visit “will be postponed”. A decision that follows the notes of territorial intelligence.
The service was indeed able to alert the authorities to the safety of the President of the Republic and that of the son of Queen Elizabeth II. The two confidential notes were revealed by “Le Parisien”: “In a tense social and societal context, the yellow vests and activists of the protest movements will certainly try to disrupt this visit, in the name of their hostility towards the reform but above all their resentment at towards the President of the Republic,” the newspaper reported.
“Spoiling the princely moment”
A conclusion that could be made thanks to a watch on social networks. Territorial intelligence “detected hateful messages against the president”, as well as a call on Telegram for “a large demonstration on March 27 in Versailles”, explains the note. And that’s not all. The demonstrators encouraged each other to “spoil the princely moment”. Indeed, during his stay in Paris, King Charles III and Emmanuel Macron were to meet at the Palace of Versailles, during a dinner in the Hall of Mirrors.
A schedule that was not to the taste of the protesters, who also wanted to “mobilize” in Bordeaux, where the father of Prince William and Prince Harry was to go on Tuesday March 28. The Girondin unions had also warned that if the pension reform passed, they would not hesitate to take King Charles III “as a target in order to show their dissatisfaction”, explains the territorial intelligence document.
The note specifies that the strikers wanted to reach the government through this visit: “It is not the very person of the king who will be targeted. The goal will be essentially to use the vast media window opened by his arrival in Gironde to defend the various social protests. According to the documents, the profile of Internet users is “particularly heterogeneous”. Several groups of people meet there, from the “extreme left” to the “extreme right”, as well as “of all ages and genders”.