Macron welcomes King Felipe VI to the Élysée for a private meeting

Paris.- The French president, Emmanuel Macron, received this Monday King Felipe VI at the Élysée to hold a private meeting before visiting together this afternoon an exhibition on Louis of France (1661-1711) at the Palace of Versailles, which will illustrate the multiple “links” that unite Spain and France.

Macron welcomed the Spanish monarch at the foot of the stairs of the Élysée Palace, in the main courtyard, shortly after 1:30 p.m. local time and they exchanged impressions in French about the sunny day in Paris, among other signs of the good understanding between the two leaders. Felipe VI walked through the main courtyard of the Élysée where about 70 members of the Republican Guard paid him honors. At the top of the staircase, the first lady, Brigitte Macron, was also waiting for him, whom he greeted with a couple of kisses, before posing with the French president before the numerous representatives of the press who attended his arrival at the Élysée, where the king had last been at a reception offered in the summer of 2024 for the Olympic Games.

France was one of Felipe VI’s first destinations when he took office in 2014.

After this reception of honor, the two leaders entered the residence of the French head of state to hold a meeting during lunch, the content of which, in principle, the Élysée does not plan to report. Two hours later, at 3:00 p.m. local time, Felipe VI and Macron are scheduled to visit together the exhibition “The Grand Dauphin, son of a king, father of a king and never king” about Louis of France, son of Louis XIV and father of Philip V, the first Bourbon king of Spain.

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“This cultural moment will highlight the historical, political, human, and artistic links that unite France and Spain,” noted the Élysée Palace. It so happens that Felipe VI is the first Spanish monarch of the Bourbon dynasty to visit the Palace of Versailles since the visit made by his great-grandfather Alfonso XIII in 1905. Inaugurated on October 14th and open until February 15th, 2026, this first major exhibition dedicated to the figure of the ‘Grand Dauphin’ of France features the collaboration of the Museo del Prado and Patrimonio Nacional, which have lent three pieces. This is a portrait of Louis of France, painted by Hyacinthe Rigaud in 1708, usually located in the Royal Palace, and two chests of drawers by the cabinetmaker Renaud Gaudron, which are permanently located in the Zarzuela Palace; works belonging to the Grand Dauphin, who bequeathed them to his second son, Philip V, and which, three centuries later, have temporarily returned to France.