King Charles’ Lavish Blue Lobster Dinner
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An annual audit has revealed that President Emmanuel Macron significantly overspent his palace’s budget by hosting an extravagant state dinner of lobster and crab for King Charles last year.
The banquet was held at Versailles Palace to mark the King’s visit and there were notable British celebrities were in attendance, including Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger and actor Hugh Grant.
This lavish meal included blue lobster, crab, Bresse poultry, mushroom gratin, French Comté and British Stichelton blue cheeses, and a rose macaroon dessert. Over €165,000 ($178,619) was spent on catering, with another €40,000 ($43,303) on drinks.
The audit office, known as the Cour des Comptes, warned that higher spending on state receptions had contributed to leaving the presidential budget €8.3m in the red. The office said the Elysée now needs to make “significant efforts… to restore and sustain the financial balance of the presidency.”
King Charles spoke at the banquet and was grateful for the expensive dinner, saying President Macron’s “generosity of spirit brings to mind how my family and I were so greatly moved by the tributes paid in France to my mother, the late queen.”
This isn’t the only time Macron has splurged on a dinner for a foreign leader. In 2023, the president’s office spent $446,000 on a dinner for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Louvre Museum.
