British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron both welcomed the lending of the Bayeux Tapestry to Britain in speeches on Wednesday (July 9). The 11th century masterpiece will be transported across the Channel for the first time in more than 900 years, in a show of friendship to mark President Emmanuel Macron's state visit. While the precise origins of the 70-metre long Bayeux tapestry are obscure, it is said to have been the work of English embroiderers, whose stitching tells the story of the Norman invasion in 1066, and most famously the arrow which hit England's King Harold in the eye. In the years after William the Conqueror took the English throne, the tapestry was taken to France, where it has remained, displayed at the Bayeux Museum in Normandy since 1983. Speaking at the British Museum, Starmer called the tapestry the "beginning of a thousand years of shared culture that is now defined by mutual admiration and kinship." The artwork will be shown at the British Museum from September 2026 to July 2027, the statement said, while museums in Normandy, northern France, will host Britain's Sutton Hoo collection, consisting of metal artworks including helmets, shields and spoons from the seventh century.
