PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron’s office spent nearly one million euros on two lavish banquets for Britain’s King Charles III and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the country’s top auditors said as they urged the Elysee Palace to tighten its belt.

The Cour des Comptes (Court of Accounts), which keeps an eye on state budgets, lamented a “sharp rise” in presidential spending last year, shooting up to 125.5m euros ($135m) — 8.5m more than its budget.

A significant slice of that overspend went on a glittering dinner at the Palace of Versailles for the British monarch in September and an equally starry Bastille Day (July 14) banquet to honour Modi at the Louvre museum.

The Versailles banquet, where King Charles and guests including Mick Jagger dined on a menu including blue lobster inspired by the decadent tastes of the “Sun King” Louis XIV, cost 475,000 euros.

The Modi meal, which was topped by Macron giving him a personal tour of the Louvre’s masterpieces, was only slightly less expensive at 412,000 euros.

The auditors said with kitchens of Macron’s official residence, the Elysee Palace, being renovated, his office turned to outside caterers for the Versailles and Louvre banquets.

While they hailed the Elysee for being “proactive” in trying to trim costs, the Cour des Comptes report on Monday urged “greater efforts to anticipate events… and to control spending on travel and entertaining”.

Published in Dawn, July 31st, 2024