King Charles, French President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Andy Burnham have viewed the Bayeux Tapestry London exhibition at the British Museum ahead of its public opening on 10 September, in what will be the first time the 70m textile has been in Britain in almost 1,000 years, The Art Newspaper has reported.
The Wednesday evening preview brought together the King and Queen Camilla, Burnham and his wife Marie-France van Heel, and Macron and his wife Brigitte for a guided viewing of key scenes in the 900-year-old tapestry, including the Coronation of King Harold and his death in battle. School children from the UK and France attended the occasion, with both the King and Macron expected to make speeches to mark the historic loan.
A ‘powerful symbol’ of Franco-British ties
Macron described the loan of the national treasure as a ‘powerful symbol’ of the close ties between the UK and France. The loan, which runs until July 2027, was first announced by Macron during a French state visit to the UK in July 2025.
At a state banquet hosted by King Charles in Windsor, Macron had said the missing end of the tapestry was a symbol that ‘in the great mural of Franco-British history, the end is yet to be written, it is up to us to do it.’
Burnham said the exhibition would be a chance to celebrate the ‘shared heritage’ between the two nations. ‘The return of the Bayeux Tapestry to England is a landmark moment in the history of our two nations,’ he said. The preview also served as the first official joint engagement carried out by the King and Burnham since Burnham became prime minister in July.
French government sources said the occasion gave Macron an opportunity to get to know Burnham. Support for Ukraine, the conflict in the Middle East, relations with the European Union, and small boats crossing the Channel are among the topics the two leaders are expected to discuss, according to those sources.
Bayeux Tapestry London exhibition: record ticket demand
The public appetite for the Bayeux Tapestry London exhibition has been exceptional. Global Banking and Finance Review reported that ticket sales brought in nearly £2.5 million on the first day they went on sale. According to Artforum, 7.5 million people are expected to visit over the course of the exhibition.
The show is already sold out until the end of 2026. The next tranche of tickets, covering visits between January and March 2027, will be available from the British Museum from 21 October.
The tapestry will be displayed in the Sainsbury Exhibitions Gallery for the duration of its stay. Its usual home, the Bayeux Tapestry Museum in Normandy, is currently undergoing renovations, according to The Art Newspaper. French authorities have also welcomed the way London visitors will see the tapestry lying flat rather than upright, a position considered better for conserving the fibres.
French government sources said ahead of the preview: ‘The display conditions at the British Museum are ideal.’ There had been concern that moving the fragile textile could risk damage during transit.
What the tapestry depicts
The 70m (230ft) tapestry, also 50cm high, was embroidered in England but has been kept in France for centuries. It tells the story of the Norman Conquest and the Battle of Hastings in 1066, charting the competing claims to the English throne, the Normans’ crossing of the Channel, and the decisive battle in which King Harold was killed, enabling William the Conqueror to take the throne.
Believed to have been embroidered by English women for the new Norman rulers in the 1070s, it comprises 58 separate scenes, with 627 human figures, 737 animals, 37 ships and 23 trees, accompanied throughout by a Latin narration. Its final scenes are believed to have been lost or destroyed. In the 18th Century, during the French Revolution, the tapestry was rescued from being cut up to make covers for soldiers’ carts.
As part of the cultural exchange underpinning the loan, the UK is lending France one of the British Museum’s prize exhibits: treasures from the Anglo-Saxon Sutton Hoo burial.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said: ‘Britain and France have a unique shared history and nothing symbolises it more than the Bayeux Tapestry.’ She added that ‘a generation of British children will remember it for the rest of their lives’.
