When this trip was being planned by government officials, they probably had a bit of a think and then decided to take him to see Les Miserables because it sounded a bit French. The slap-up dinner they organised also had a decidedly French theme, partly because French cooking is widely considered to be the best in the World. However, I can't help thinking that they've been trying a bit too hard, and that maybe Chirac might prefer to try something British while he's over here. If every Country tried to do this sort of thing, then the Queen would be served Egg and Chips everywhere she went. Mind you, Prince Philip would almost certainly prefer this if it did happen.
All in all it would have been a difficult visit for Chirac, as he and Blair have taken very different perspectives over the war in Iraq, Tony Blair deciding to do whatever George W. Chimp says, supporting the war while Chirac opposed the war because of all the weapons and stuff France was flogging to Saddam. I can imagine the frosty atmosphere at the table between Chirac and the Blairs as they tried to make smalltalk would not have been helped in any way by the presence of the Duke of Edinburgh, who can always be relied upon to make near the knuckle, insulting remarks.
Given the situation, Chirac would have been feeling quite awkward and to make up for this, I imagine he'd have been hitting the wine really hard to help him overcome the embarrassing silences, just hoping to get it all over with as soon as possible. He would have knocked back glass after glass of vintage wine, willing the alcohol to work more quickly, and biting his lip at the prissy and joyless way the Queen spooned her soup to her mouth. He would also have worried about his speech, every word of which he knew Tony Blair would be telling Bush on the phone as soon as possible.
I cringed with embarrassment at the whole uncomfortable, socially awkward charade. Blair clearly not happy with having to entertain a man that his best simian friend, Roscoe P. Bush, described as a "cheese eating surrender monkey", demonstrating the full force of his wit. Chirac was equally embarrassed and clearly wanted the ground to swallow him up. Tony Blair's smile was about as insincere as it has ever been as he shook the French premiere coldly by the hand and presented him with a frog on a stick, a string of onions and a beret.