UK:GORDON BROWN and Nicolas Sarkozy will proclaim a new era of Anglo-French fraternity later today as Queen Elizabeth hosts the first full state visit by a French president to the United Kingdom in 12 years, writes Frank Millar, London Editor.
Britons will be highly sceptical about suggestions that the recent cooling in relations between France and Germany might see this new entente cordiale replace the Franco-German "motor" as the vehicle for leadership and change in the European Union.
Mr Sarkozy's two-day visit will also see a determined media focus on issues far removed from the diplomatic high table - his state visit already billed "Haute couture meets high politics", while his scheduled talks with Mr Brown strike some as more a case of "Scots chalk and French fromage".
Among advance reports about initiatives on Nato, French troop deployments in Afghanistan, nuclear power policy and provision, and inevitable discussions about the global economic crisis, we have already learned that Carla Bruni is "preparing with passion" for her first encounter with British royalty and that France's new first lady is determined to perfect her curtsey.
With the spotlight firmly on the president's "bling-bling" lifestyle, one scene-setter yesterday suggested his biggest worry might be "what on earth to wear" to tonight's state banquet. Elsewhere, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip were said to be wary of Ms Bruni, who reportedly told Israeli president Shimon Peres that she tends to say "sex" rather than "cheese" when having photographs taking.
Any such indiscretion at Windsor Castle this evening would of course provide a field day for the headline writers. However it seems unlikely that Britain's monarch and the Duke of Edinburgh are hugely exercised about the president's lifestyle, his very public divorce or his remarriage.
Upon their arrival at Heathrow, Mr Sarkozy and his wife will be received by Prince Charles and his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall.
From there it will be red carpets and horse-drawn carriages all the way. They are unquestionably very different, yet by all accounts the president and the "dour" Mr Brown get on well.
Tonight's dinner is at Windsor Castle, with Queen Elizabeth doing the French president the "rare honour" of entertaining him at her preferred residence rather than at Buckingham Palace.
Before then Mr Sarkozy will have the opportunity to address members of both houses of parliament at Westminster, while tomorrow's summit meeting will take place away from Downing Street at Arsenal's Emirates Stadium, otherwise known as the unofficial French embassy and home of Arsène Wenger.
Once the official political business of the trip is under way, the the expectation is that Mr Sarkozy will commit 1,000 French troops for duties in Afghanistan, possibly in return for British support for the appointment of a French candidate to one of Nato's top jobs.
The Daily Telegraph reported this as part of Mr Sarkozy's drive to rejoin Nato's integrated military structure alongside plans for the development of an EU defence policy and capability linked to Nato.
However, Conservative defence spokesman Liam Fox has echoed US objections, describing the idea of "a separate European pillar within Nato" as "extraordinarily dangerous".
Dr Fox suggested at the weekend that, instead of the EU acting "as a delivery arm for Nato", the danger was "that it will act in competition".
The Heritage Foundation, a Washington think tank, has also warned that such a development could see Nato torn in half, insisting: "The ransom being demanded by Paris for a return to the Nato fold is too high a price for the United States and Great Britain to pay."