Speaking French in a video on Macron’s feed on X, formerly Twitter, Scholz said: “Hello dear friends, long live French-German friendship!” 

“Thank you, Olaf! I very much agree with you,” Mr Macron replied in heavily accented German.

While Mr Macron is a frequent visitor to Berlin, the trip is the first state visit in 24 years, after one made by Jacques Chirac in 2000, and the sixth since the first post-war state visit by Charles de Gaulle in 1962.

On Sunday afternoon, Mr Macron held talks with his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier, whose role is largely ceremonial.