"A precious piece of our shared history”: will France still loan the Bayeux Tapestry to the UK?

Speaking on 5 May 2025, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer told HistoryExtra and BBC History Magazine that civil servants are still working on the potential loan, seven years after the announcement.

In January 2018, then British Prime Minister Theresa May said: “Our shared history is reflected in the loan of the Bayeux Tapestry to the UK in 2022, the first time it will be on British soil in more than 900 years.

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“The loan of the Tapestry will form part of a wider cultural exchange taking place between Britain and France over the next four years.

“I am honoured at the loan of such a precious piece of our shared history which yet again underscores the closeness of the UK-France relationship.”

At that point, the timescale for the loan was that the Tapestry would come to the UK while its home in Normandy, the Bayeux Tapestry Museum, underwent refurbishment in 2022.

Progress on the redevelopment of the museum in Bayeux has been slower than was anticipated in 2018. The museum is now due to close in September 2025, with an exciting plan in place to add an extension to the current 17th-century seminary building in which the Tapestry has been housed since 1983. The new museum is scheduled to open in 2027 – in time for the millennial commemorations of the birth of William the Conqueror.

Many scholars are in agreement that the Tapestry was originally made in the 11th-century, not too long after the Norman Conquest in 1066, in England, and likely by English seamstresses in Canterbury. It has however been in Bayeux since at least the 15th-century. Today, the artefact is the property of the French State and was entrusted to the city of Bayeux by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1804.

On 5 May, HistoryExtra and BBC History Magazine spoke to the current British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in Downing Street, as part of the PM’s VE Day 80th anniversary street party. After hearing the Prime Minister’s views on the VE Day commemorations, we asked whether Sir Keir is still talking to President Macron of France about the loan of the Bayeux Tapestry.

"The Bayeux Tapestry is a unique treasure,” said the Prime Minister, “and a symbol of the deep ties between Britain and France.

"The conservation and protection of it is obviously crucial, and I know that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport continues to work closely with their counterparts in France on the planned loan."

The Prime Minister did not elaborate on the nature of that work between the DCMS and their French counterparts. Given the timing of the museum refurbishment in Bayeux, if the loan were to happen, it would have to be at some point in the next couple of years.

Has the Bayeux Tapestry come to the UK before?

Three requests were made for the Bayeux Tapestry to be loaned to Britain in the 20th century: first in 1931, for an exhibition on French art at Burlington House in London, then in 1953 for Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation and finally in 1966 on the 900th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings, when both the Victoria and Albert Museum and Westminster Abbey hoped to display the Tapestry. None of the requests were granted.

When this current loan was announced, those locations along with the British Museum, Canterbury Cathedral, and Hastings were all mooted as possible venues.

If the loan does eventually happen, as Sir Keir states, conservation efforts will be a key factor in where it's exhibited. According to the Bayeux Museum website: “The international members of the scientific committee also specified that ‘only restoration operations of the Bayeux Tapestry will be able to justify its movement’.

“Nobody knows yet where the restoration could be conducted as the place should meet numerous criteria and among them, textile conservation standards. The aim of this restauration operation will be to stabilise structural damages on the Bayeux Tapestry such as tears; to carry out precise dusting of the embroidery; and above all to limit the tensions weighing today on the medieval linen.”

As it stands, the Bayeux Museum website states that “While the museum is being built, the Bayeux Tapestry will be kept in a storage area specifically designed for its conservation. The removal of the tapestry from its current display case and its conditioning will naturally be carried out in close collaboration with the services of the French State, owner of the artwork, in order to ensure the preservation of one of the most precious heritage objects of the 11th century, classified as a Historic Monument and listed in the UNESCO's Memory of the World register”.

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In a 5 May 2025 call between Prime Minister Starmer and President Macron, recorded on the UK government website, “The Prime Minister began by reflecting on how privileged he felt to be part of the moving VE Day celebrations this week, including the commemorative events held today […] The leaders also looked ahead to the UK-France summit taking place later this year and agreed to step up ambition between the two countries across all areas.”

Does that ambition include plans to bring the Bayeux Tapestry across the sea? We will see.