PARIS, France - Britain's King Charles on Friday cancelled a state visit to France next week after social unrest over President Emmanuel Macron's new pension law erupted into some of the worst street violence seen in years across the country.
The postponement - at Macron's request - will be a major embarrassment to the French leader, who has hoped the monarch's visit would mark a symbolic step in the two countries' efforts to turn a page after years of poor relations over Britain's exit from the European Union.
Charles had been due to travel to France on Sunday for three days - in what would have been his first state visit since he succeeded his mother Queen Elizabeth as British monarch in September - before moving on to Germany.
That itinerary had been seen as a win for Macron, who has sought to position himself as Europe's de facto leader. Charles' trip would have included a lavish banquet at the Palace of Versailles.
"You can see the situation linked to the protests'', Macron told a news conference during a visit to Brussels.
He added that ''it would have been serious'' to host the state visit after unions announced a nationwide day of strikes and protests for Tuesday.
''Common sense and friendship pushed us to propose to postpone (the visit)''.
A British government spokesperson said the decision was ''taken with the consent of all parties'' after Macron asked the British government to postpone the visit.
The last-minute scrapping of the visit will pile further pressure on Macron to find a way out of a crisis over his plans to raise the retirement age by two years to 64, which has seen some of France's worst unrest since the ''Yellow Vest'' rebellion of 2018-2019.
The Elysee said it hoped the visit would be rescheduled in the coming months.
''The were calls on social networks to disrupt the king's visit, to take action, so we didn't want to take any risks'', a French source close to the matter said.
A Buckingham Palace source said Charles' visit to Germany will go ahead as planned.
The king and his wide, Queen Consort Camilla, looked forward to rescheduling the visit to France ''as soon as dates can be found'', a Buckingham Palace spokesperson said.
