Swapping of the Guards: UK and France celebrate friendship

Troops swapped places in Paris and London on Monday to mark 120 years since the Entente Cordiale was signed.

British troops from Number 7 Company, the Coldstream Guards, took part in a changing of the guard ceremony at the Élysée Palace, while members of French Republican Guard did the same at Buckingham Palace.

France is the first non-Commonwealth country to ever take part in the ceremony in London, while the UK has become the first foreign state to have guarded the French presidential residence.

The Entente Cordiale, a series of four agreements, aimed to end acrimony and improve diplomatic links between the UK and France, settling colonial disputes. It also paved the way for diplomatic cooperation against Germany in the decade before World War One.

French president Emmanuel Macron attended the ceremony in Paris, whereas the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh represented King Charles in London, while he continues treatment for cancer.