President Emmanuel Macron will offer to loan Bayeux Tapestry to United Kingdom

In a gesture of abiding friendship, or perhaps a subtle act of diplomatic trolling, French President Emmanuel Macron will offer to loan Britain the famed Bayeux Tapestry, depicting the French conquest of England, during his visit to the UK on Thursday. The 40-year-old French leader likes to accompany his diplomacy with symbolic moves and gifts as he sets about trying to restore France’s international prestige. On a trip to Beijing, he offered the Chinese president a French stallion, while Russian leader Vladimir Putin was given a tour around an exhibition at the Versailles Palace last year that marked 300 years of Franco-Russian friendship. In Britain on Thursday, Macron will offer to transport the 70-metre-long (230-foot) Bayeux Tapestry to Britain for the first time, in an unprecedented and technically difficult journey for the priceless thousand-year-old artwork. “It will not be before 2020 because it’s an extremely fragile cultural treasure which will be subject to major restoratio