Reaction to speech shows King Charles should pay heed to mother's advice

King Charles received a standing ovation following his speech at the French senate, the first by a British monarch to representatives of both houses of the French parliament.

Charles spoke in flawless French, turning to English only for short parts of the speech.

French politicians took their phones out to snap pictures of Charles at the start of the speech.

But less than 10,000 people watched the British monarch's speech on the Royal Family's official YouTube channel, which has over 1 million subscribers.

Speaking ahead of King Charles' coronation earlier this year, author and royal correspondent Robert Hardman said, "The big threat to the future of the House of Windsor is not mobs storming the gate, it's not revolution, it's becoming irrelevant. The queen always used to say we have to be seen to be believed."

King Charles' visit has been covered extensively by the media in France, while pictures of the visit appeared on the front page of nearly all Britain's national newspapers.