A state dinner with the U.K.’s king cost the French nearly €500,000.

A decadent dinner costing nearly €475,000 for the U.K.’s King Charles III helped push France’s Élysée Palace — the office of President Emmanuel Macron —to a record high deficit last year.

France’s love for grand gestures and opulent dining are fully in evidence in the pages of a damning  yearly audit of the Élysée’s budget, released on Monday by the Cour des Comptes, France’s top audit court.

The Élysée’s spending, which includes costs related to the president’s diplomatic and presidential duties as well as administration, personnel, security and estate management, reached a whopping €125 million, plunging the books €8.3 million into the red.

Among the biggest deficit drivers were two luxurious state dinners, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and King Charles III.

    • @Bassman1805@lemmy.worldEnglish
      81•10 months ago

      Famous chefs who have more people requesting them than they have time in the day, so they go to whoever pays the most.

      Like, Gordon Ramsey still does private events, but only if they pay more than he could be making with his TV deals.

    • @snooggums@midwest.socialEnglish
      24•10 months ago

      Perfection costs a whole lot more than really, really good because costs go up exponentially.

      You need multiple times the staff on hand to cook and server everything at the same time, and they should be highly paid professionals. You need to be able to discard the majority of your food supplies, which already cost a lot more than normal, to have the perfect version of every dish. The setting probably costs a lot to set up and clean up after, and attention to detail costs time and money.

      It is a huge waste, but that is why it costs so much.

      • @BakerBagel@midwest.socialEnglish
        7•10 months ago

        Everyone also has to pass a bunch of security and background checks, which costs money as well. And i am sure the supply chains for staye dinners are more expensive for the same reason