Buckingham Palace says French President Macron has accepted invitation for state visit in July

Charles and Queen Camilla traveled to France in September 2023 in a visit that underscored Britain's aim to bolster ties with its closest European neighbor. The trip came after years of sometimes prickly relations strained by Britain's exit from the European Union and by disagreements over the growing number of migrants crossing the English Channel on small boats.

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The Independent

an hour ago

• The Independent

Ukraine-Russia war live: Moscow's wartime toll hits grim milestone while massive drone attack injures five in Kyiv

Nearly one million Russian soldiers have been killed or injured in the Ukraine war, according to the British defence ministry and an American think tank. The defence ministry says over a million Russian soldiers have died or suffered injuries during the war, which started on 24 February 2022. The estimates align with a study by the American think tank Centre for Strategic and International Studies. The think tank estimates Russian deaths at around 250,000 and total casualties, including the wounded, at nearly 950,000, the Guardian reported. The Ukrainian death toll it puts at between 60,000 and 100,000 and total casualties up to 400,000. In continuing hostilities, an overnight Russian drone attack on Kyiv killed five civilians, sparked fires in residential areas and damaged an entrance to a metro station, Ukrainian authorities said on Monday.

Times

an hour ago

• Times

How Monte Carlo became cool again

My life was ruined on a Monaco pier. It was there, while dozing on a banana yellow sunbed as superyachts bobbed in the waters, sports cars grumbled down the mountain behind me and lithe French girls in Lanvin bathing suits leapt into the Mediterranean, that I realised my standards of wellbeing had been irreparably raised. I might never be this happy again. It was my first time in the principality, and I was there to check out a new collaboration between the Monte Carlo Beach Hotel and the French designer Simon Porte Jacquemus. The designer has taken over the hotel's pier for summer 2025, helping create a beach club complete with branded chairs and umbrellas and towels — all in the Jacquemus black and yellow colour palette. The brand has also opened two pop-up boutiques at the hotel: one for clothing and another for accessories, including its popular bucket hats (£220). (Its viral, and comically large, raffia sunhat is not longer for sale but is also on display.) The beach club is part of a larger movement afoot in Monte Carlo. While I was there I learnt that the city is going through something of a rebrand. The smart, young crowd who haunt the coves and clubs of the Mediterranean had, apparently, written off Monte Carlo as a party town, choosing instead to take their helicopters across to St Tropez when they wanted to look for good time. Something had to be done, and so hospitality group Société des Bains de Mer, which owns the Monte Carlo Beach Hotel (as well as a host of other hotels in the country), the city's main casino, and 27 restaurants with a collective seven Michelin stars from chefs including Alain Ducasse, Marcel Ravin and Cedric Grolet — began to think about how to appeal to a younger traveller. The trick was pulling this off while maintaining the belle époque glamour and idiosyncratic charm that the city is famous for. • Read more luxury reviews, advice and insights from our experts Monaco is the second smallest independent state in the world. In 1856 Prince Charles III of Monaco granted the Société des Bains de Mer permission to build a casino in Monte Carlo in the hope of attracting wealthy clientele. The ploy worked and the place became a popular destination for everyone from Monet to Mick Jagger. The first Monaco Grand Prix took place in Monte Carlo in 1929, revving up the glitz and, before long, the place became a synonym for decadent luxury, which was further amplified when the actress Grace Kelly joined the royal family. The lustre of the country was burnished by its multiple appearances on screen, including in To Catch a Thief, Bonjour Tristesse and many a Bond film. In the Eighties the glamour took a turn for the brash, as was appropriate for the decade, with tanned royals like Princess Stéphanie, glistening with diamonds and hair gel, lording it about the place. In the Nineties the skies still thrummed with choppers and the sea was frothy with superyachts, but the empty skyscrapers and dwindling club scene meant revellers ventured elsewhere. Which is where Jacquemus, a 36-year-old designer and Côte d'Azur native with over six million followers on Instagram, came in. It turns out that when a social media savvy 16-year-old fashion brand makes an alliance with a 95-year-old hotel with an extensive history, nothing but good can come. What makes this collaboration so fabulous is that in a world where aesthetics have become increasingly uniform, the beach club seems to be eager to bring modern style to the resort while maintaining its unique personality. There you will find good-looking young couples taking photos on the yellow and black striped loungers and older women for whom the tan never went out of style wandering into the sea, perfect in their bikinis and diamonds. The beach club is open to hotel guests and visitors alike, who can feast on everything from club sandwiches and Caesar salad, to watermelon presented on a large bowl of ice, alongside cocktails and fresh juices. Thanks to its positioning at the end of the beach, it feels secluded. There is every form of water sport on offer, and at the end of the long pier there is a netted swimming area to keep you safe from jellyfish. It's a multigenerational beach, but this adds a nice ambience. There's no music blasting, just the faint sounds of children daring each other to dive into the water and suave young Italian businessmen closing deals on their phones. Away from the Beach Club, the hotel, which is part of the Relais & Châteaux group, has plush rooms featuring balconies with perfect view of both the sea and the glittering homes dotted along the hillside. By the pool, which has been recently reimagined by the interior designer Dorothée Delaye, there are chic sunbeds covered in soothing green tones with matching green umbrellas and cabanas. They're positioned by the hotel's two original diving boards — one at a reasonable three metres, the other (now closed to the public) at a staggering five metres. Everywhere we went in Monte Carlo, from the hotel to the two Michelin-starred Blue Bay, we were met with impeccable service, kindness and attention to detail in a way that felt authentic — even when they were complimenting my very broken French. By 3.30 in the afternoon on the Saturday, once everyone had finished their expertly fried courgette flowers and freshly caught Sam Remo prawns, the hotel's restaurant Maona, which is now home to a collaboration with the Mykonos restaurant Sea Satin, was confronting the party problem head on. The DJ had begun laying down dancing tracks, the ouzo was flowing and the restaurant's crisp white napkins were being waved in the air. Somehow, this didn't stop calm at the beach, or interrupt the families playing at the pool. Everyone seemed to have everything they needed. Rather than trying to adapt to the trend for quiet luxury, the beach club has decided to embrace Monte Carlo's maximalism. They're not trying too hard to be cool, which means of course that they are. While other European hotspots like Mykonos and Ibiza will also see Jacquemus pop-ups this summer, I'd suggest stopping by the outpost in Monte Carlo instead. Where else can you find yourself squeezed in a lift with women toting Balenciaga city bags discussing boarding school, a pair of drunk Italians teens in designer track pants, and a priest in white robes wearing circular tortoiseshell Persol glasses? When it comes to glamour, it's really always best to leave it to the experts. The Jacquemus x Monte-Carlo Beach Club is open until October 7. One sunbed costs €30.

The Guardian

2 hours ago

• The Guardian

Europeans back higher defence spending amid Russia threat, poll finds

Faced with an unpredictable Donald Trump and an aggressive Russia, Europeans favour increased spending on defence and, in some countries, compulsory military service. A survey of 12 countries for the European Council on Foreign Relations showed majorities for increased defence spending in Poland (70%), Denmark (70%) and the UK (57%). Support was softer elsewhere, but large minorities in Germany (47%), Spain (46%) and France (45%) also backed bigger military budgets. Italy was an outlier: only 17% favoured higher spending, with 57% against. Europeans in several countries supported reintroducing mandatory military service, with the crucial exception of 18- to 29-year-olds – those most likely to be called up in any armed conflict. People in France (62%), Germany (53%) and Poland (51%) were the strongest supporters of military service. Opposition to the idea outweighed support in countries including Italy (50% against), the UK (53%), Spain (56%) and Hungary (58%). Older people were keenest on the draft. In Germany, for example, a net total of 49% of over-70s supported military service, while a net total of 46% of 18- to 29-year-olds opposed the idea. The research also found the European public divided sharply over Trump, whose return to the US presidency has scrambled traditional allegiances to Washington. Countries with traditionally strong ties with the US are becoming increasingly sceptical of the US system: in the UK and Germany, majorities of 74% and 67% think it is broken. 'EU-US relations are now increasingly ideological,' the ECFR's Ivan Krastev and Mark Leonard wrote in a paper to accompany the findings. 'In many respects the relations of the far-right parties to Trump start to resemble the relationship of former communist parties to the Soviet Union in the cold war. They feel obliged to defend Trump and to imitate him.' European far-right parties, which often took inspiration from Vladimir Putin's Russia, now look to Trump's system as a model, the authors suggest. In contrast, voters for mainstream parties are critical of Trump and the US political system. Far-right and national populist allegiance to Trump exists, despite sizeable minorities of voters for those parties seeing his re-election as bad news for Americans. For instance, 34% of AfD voters in Germany, 28% of France's National Rally supporters and 30% of Reform UK voters consider Trump's re-election as 'very bad' or 'rather bad' for Americans. The findings come on the eve of a Nato summit this week where members of the alliance will be asked to raise defence spending to at least 5% of GDP a year by 2032. Spain has already rejected the target as 'unreasonable' and 'counterproductive'. Italy wants to delay the deadline until 2035. Voters in most countries polled are sceptical that Europe can be independent of the US. Citizens in Germany, Spain, Poland and Italy were more likely to say it would be very difficult or practically impossible for the EU to become independent of the US in defence and security. Only in Denmark did a slim majority (52%) consider it was possible for the EU to achieve autonomy in defence and security. Denmark, which is directly threatened by Trump's claims over Greenland, also showed the highest antipathy towards the US president: 86% believe the US political system is broken, while 76% rated Trump's re-election as a bad thing for US citizens. Several European publics support developing an alternative national nuclear deterrent that does not rely on the US, with the strongest support in Poland (60%), Portugal (62%) and Spain (54%). In Germany, support for such an idea was only 39%. The chancellor, Friedrich Merz, has proposed that his country could share nuclear weapons with France and Britain but also said this could not replace the US's protective shield over much of Europe. Sign up to Headlines Europe A digest of the morning's main headlines from the Europe edition emailed direct to you every week day after newsletter promotion In an encouraging sign for Kyiv, most Europeans oppose following the US if Trump pushes Ukraine to cede occupied territories or lifts economic sanctions against Russia. Even in Hungary, which has a government that has consistently slowed agreement on EU sanctions, 40% oppose copying any US move to lift sanctions, while 38% were in favour. In other countries there were strong majorities against emulating any pro-Russia policy on Ukraine that may come from the US. The report's authors suggest two explanations for this support for Ukraine. 'A benevolent interpretation is that Europeans support an autonomous European policy to support Ukraine and they don't want to blindly follow Trump's lead. But another reading of that data is that Europeans want Ukrainians to continue fighting on their behalf.' Leonard said: 'Our poll shows that Europeans feel unsafe and that Trump is driving demand for increased defence spending, the reintroduction of military service and an extension of nuclear capabilities across much of Europe.' Krastev, who is chair of the Centre for Liberal Strategies, said: 'The real effect of Trump's second coming is that the United States now presents a credible model for Europe's far right. To be pro-American today mostly means to be sceptical of the EU; to be pro-European means being critical of Trump's America.' Pollsters commissioned by ECFR spoke to 16,440 adults last month.