[Uk] King finally gets to meet the crowds in Bordeaux

King Charles received an enthusiastic welcome as crowds turned out in Bordeaux for the final day of the state visit to France.

After two days in Paris, his trip to the south-west city gave the King more of a chance to engage with the public.

A festival event which included the King meeting the Fiji rugby team turned into a scrum of well-wishers.

The King was surrounded by two of the main features of a royal visit - people holding up mobile phones and security.

The state visit had seen two days of formal events in Paris - including a speech to the French Senate, about Ukraine and climate change, which received a standing ovation.

There was a more relaxed atmosphere for his day in Bordeaux, shaking hands with crowds gathered outside the city's historic Hotel de Ville.

This trip has been a carefully choreographed attempt to build up French-British relationships which might have been strained by Brexit.

That extended to staff giving the waiting crowds a mix of French and British flags to wave, creating photo-opportunities of this mutual admiration, as the King stepped out of a Renault Espace.

In a day that mixed heavy rain and bursts of hot sunshine, the King was crowded round closely by visitors at a festival at the city's Place de la Bourse.

He often seems energised by these encounters and he made slow progress while the background music blared out Running Up That Hill, by Kate Bush.

Crowds had gathered to get a glimpse of 'le Roi Charles III'. As with all these events now, everyone who wasn't thrusting out a hand to shake was holding up a mobile phone.

It was a break from what had been sometimes stiflingly tight French security during the visit.

There had been a spectacular welcome for the King at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris on Wednesday, but with barriers blocking out any of the public it had been observed only by a silent cordon of police and a pen of journalists.

French security concerns had also played a part in a decision for the King and Queen to be flown from Paris to Bordeaux, rather than catching the high-speed train as initially planned.

The royal couple had also flown to France from Britain - when the previous state visit had seen the late Queen travelling to France on a Eurostar train.

There had been some awkward timing for the King's visit. Many of the events focused on environmental issues, when UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had been announcing a change of plans over net zero.

Whatever his private thoughts, the King's speech to the Senate, which would have been prepared with the advice of ministers, was carefully crafted to avoid criticism of the government.

Meanwhile, our Paris correspondent noted on Thursday how, 85 years later- on the surface at least - there was a rather different ambience in the French capital for the King Charles' visit when compared to that of his grandfather, King George VI.