Show goes on for late Chirac

The pro-hunt campaigners did their best to ruin it, the French president was late (again) - but the show went on.

Last night the Queen showed Jacques Chirac that when it comes to Anglo-French collaborations, there is nothing quite like putting on a West End musical in your dining room.

The president, and 136 guests at Windsor Castle including high-profile French exports such as Arsene Wenger, Nicole Farhi and the Roux brothers, were treated to a miniperformance of Les Miserables by the cast of the current production and Michael Ball from the original.

Outside, the pro-hunt demonstrators had some placards in French. They need not have bothered: M Chirac speaks perfect English, and was ushered in through another entrance.

Thanks to the traffic, he was half an hour late. This meant the Queen was not able to meet him at the Sovereign's Gate as planned because she had to change for dinner: instead Prince Philip did the honours. Profuse apologies from Mr Chirac were all brushed aside by the duke as they joined the other guests, served Krug 1982 by the magnum. Not everyone present was so easily satisfied, however. The Duke of York, a teetotaller, insisted on his water being served at room temperature, while the Prince of Wales left instructions for a "lemon refresher" in his water glass.

The Queen proposed the toast: "To the people of France. Vive l'Entente Cordiale." She said the century-old alliance was "about the people of our two countries getting on with each other and working with a common purpose".

There was, discreetly, no mention of the fact that the room was called the Waterloo Chamber until it was renamed the Music Room for last night's festivities, or of the portrait of the Duke of Wellington on the wall - a reminder of when the Entente was less cordiale.

President Chirac rose to say he was "deeply moved" by the Queen's invitation. His fiveminute speech, in French, was disturbed momentarily by a rogue mobile phone - understood to be French.