Let them eat lobster! France spent over US$500,000 on a state dinner for King Charles

French President Emmanuel Macron, his wife Brigitte Macron, King Charles and Queen Camilla toast during a state dinner at the Chateau de Versailles near Paris in September 2023. (Benoit Tessier / Pool / Reuters via CNN Newsource)

London — Entertaining the King is an expensive business, France is finding out.

A sumptuous lobster dinner held to welcome King Charles III to Paris last September cost the French president’s office nearly €475,000 (US$515,000), according to accounts published on Monday by France’s public auditor.

The lavish affair at the Palace of Versailles, which saw around 180 guests tuck into a feast of blue lobster, crab cakes and champagne-marinated chicken, helped blow an €8.3 million-sized hole (US$9 million) in the Élysée Palace’s budget last year, the auditor said.

The watchdog, which is responsible for scrutinizing presidential finances, including spending on staff, security and diplomatic duties, said the Élysée Palace’s expenses had topped €125 million (US$136 million) during 2023 — up 14 per cent from the previous year.

The overspend was part of a much bigger French government budget deficit in 2023, which has just earned the country a rap on the knuckles from the European Union.

The state dinner included outlays of more than €166,000 (US$180,000) for catering and €42,000 (US$46,000) for drinks, on top of other costs including furniture, flowers and table decorations.

King Charles and his wife, Queen Camilla, attended the banquet as part of a three-day state visit to France, which had been postponed from earlier in 2023 because of widespread protests over Macron’s pension reforms. During the trip, King Charles praised the “indispensable relationship” between the UK and its neighbor in a historic speech to the French senate chamber.

Mick Jagger, Hugh Grant and former French football manager Arsene Wenger were among the famous faces at the state dinner, which was held in Versailles’ glittering 240-foot (73-metre) long Hall of Mirrors — where, according to the palace’s website, France’s ill-fated monarchy once threw balls, weddings and entertained foreign dignitaries.

The audit office is now playing the role of party pooper, warning that “significant efforts will need to be undertaken from 2024 in order to restore and sustain the financial balance of the presidency.” It noted that another state dinner, thrown for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year in the Louvre, came to €412,000 (US$447,000).

The European Union handed France an official warning last month over its budget deficit, which stood at 5.5 per cent of gross domestic product last year — one of the highest among the 27-member bloc. France’s national debt has also ballooned to nearly 111 per cent of GDP.

The Élysée Palace did not immediately respond to a request for comment.