2 min readPope Leo XIV wrapped up a four-day visit to France on Monday with a stop in Metz, and the final day brought an unexpected gathering of European royalty. French President Emmanuel Macron and First Lady Brigitte Macron hosted Prince Albert and Princess Charlene of Monaco, as well as Grand Duke Guillaume of Luxembourg, for a conference held near the French-German border.
Pope Leo in conversation, with Grand Duke Guillaume to his left and President Macron to his right.
For the occasion, Princess Charlene arrived in an all-white pantsuit with a small Lady D-Joy Dior handbag. Available in several colors, the purse is sold online worldwide.
Princess Charlene was also exercising what is known as le privilège du blanc, a rare exception to standard papal audience dress code that permits queens and princesses from Catholic countries to wear white when meeting the pope. Fewer than ten women in the world hold this privilege, including Queen Letizia of Spain and Queen Mathilde of Belgium. Brigitte Macron wore black, as protocol requires for those who do not hold the exemption.
President Macron and First Lady Macron welcoming Prince Albert and Princess Charlene to Metz.
In his speech at the conference, Pope Leo addressed migration and international conflicts, remarking “contemporary Europe is now entering a new stage in its long history…with the arrival on the continent of so many men and women fleeing war and persecution, or seeking a better life.” The venue was not incidental: Metz is the birthplace of Robert Schuman, one of the founding architects of what would become the European Union, and all EU heads of state were invited to attend alongside the heads of Europe’s major institutions.
The Metz conference was the final stop of a visit that began Friday, September 25, when President Macron officially welcomed Pope Leo to France. That evening, the pontiff was joined by 80,000 young people at the Stade de France in Paris for a prayer vigil. The following day, he rode down the Champs-Élysées in an open-top “popemobile” before presiding over an outdoor mass at the Place de la Concorde attended by an estimated 700,000 to 800,000 people.
Rachel King (she/her) is a news writer at Town & Country. Before joining T&C, she spent nearly a decade as an editor at Fortune. Her work covering travel and lifestyle has appeared in Forbes, Observer, Robb Report, Cruise Critic, and Cool Hunting, among others. Originally from San Francisco, she lives in New York with her wife, their daughter, and a precocious labradoodle. Follow her on Instagram at @rk.passport.