Macron makes Brexit joke in address to Parliament during UK state visit

Emmanuel Macron joked the Bayeux Tapestry loan took longer to deliver than Brexit, after it was announced on Tuesday (8 July) that the 1000-year-old wall hanging will return to the UK. Speaking to parliament on his first day of his state visit to the UK, the French president confirmed that the tapestry, which depicts the Norman Conquest of 1066, will be loaned to the British Museum for a year. “It probably took more years to deliver this project than all the Brexit talks”, he said, adding: “Though at the end of the day, we did it.” The tapestry, one of the world's most famous pieces of medieval art, will go on display from September 2026 to July 2027 in The Sainsbury Exhibitions Gallery.