Message from the palace? UK state visit for Macron before Trump

His post may be largely ceremonial but his messaging’s crystal clear. The first state dinner at the palace of King Charles’ reign going to France’s Emmanuel Macron, not the United States’ Donald Trump. At a time when the United Kingdom’s forced to rethink its role in an uncertain world, is turning its back this time on Winston’s Churchill’s adage that “’Every time we have to decide between Europe and the open sea, she must always choose the open sea”?