Why the Bayeux Tapestry and Franco-British relations are inseparably linked

When Emmanuel Macron first promised to return the Bayeux Tapestry to Britain after 1,000 years, he did so in front of then-British Prime Minister Theresa May, as relations between the two neighbors were under severe strain. “Two things do not change in relations between France and Britain: our history and our geography,” Macron said in January 2018.

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Two things do not change in relations between France and Britain: our history and our geography.

That was 18 months after Britain voted to leave the European Union. Brexit had shocked and angered France's political establishment, personal ties had been tested, and contact between the governments on both sides of the Channel was visibly deteriorating. A piece of medieval embroidered linen, however perfectly it captured the countries' complicated shared history, could not by itself repair such a rupture.

Eight and a half years and many changes of political figures later, Macron finally carried out his pledge this week, presenting the tapestry at London's British Museum. The scenes there overflowed with Franco-British warmth, in a way that could make observers forget the chill that had previously settled over bilateral relations, The Guardian wrote in an analysis.

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It is much more than a simple embroidered canvas.

No one argued that the tapestry alone had driven the renewed relationship. But Macron's determination to advance a loan he had once called “seemingly impossible” showed that the London exhibition represented more than a museum event, the British newspaper said. “It is much more than a simple embroidered canvas,” Macron told the museum on Wednesday. “It represents an entire chapter of French, British and European history.”

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It represents an entire chapter of French, British and European history.

Macron said people “decades or even centuries from now” would discuss not only the tapestry, but also “what happened here today” and the decision to display it at the British Museum. He called the loan an important milestone in the long course of Franco-British relations, saying that two countries with centuries of shared history had chosen to strengthen ties as closely woven as the threads of the 1,000-year-old embroidery. Burnham agreed, calling it “a great demonstration of goodwill” that showed the strength of cooperation between the two nations. The tapestry, the article notes, has long carried a strong political character, even before it became associated with the founding narrative of the English nation.

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A great demonstration of goodwill.