Macron was re-elected on April 24th with 58.55 percent of the vote and will be formally invested into into the role on Saturday. 

The inauguration ceremony, or investiture, formalises the transfer of power, and will take place in the Salle des Fêtes at the Elysée Palace on Saturday, May 7th from 11am. It will last just over an hour and a half.

Unlike many other countries, the French presidential inauguration does not include an oath of office, but it does boast a fair share of ceremonial practices.

Specifically, there will be a proclamation of the official election results by the President of the Constitutional Council, Laurent Fabius, then the president will be recognised as the Grand Master of the National Order of the Legion of Honor, making the start of his second term official.

In terms of invitees, 450 guests were carefully selected, and France’s only two living ex presidents François Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy will both attend. The president was also sure to invite those who represent major institutions, plus politicians, mayors and French Nobel Prize winners.

Macron will then give a speech, after which 21 cannon shots will be fired to mark the event, a tradition some re-elected presidents have skipped in the past.

He will also “review” his military, including part of the crew of the Monge – a ship based in Brest that is equipped to monitor the flights of ballistic and nuclear missiles, which is likely an allusion to the shadow the war in Ukraine has cast over Macron’s second term.The ceremony will end with flags and the a rendition of the Marseillaise. 

Normally, the newly-elected president would then be received at the Paris town hall and drive up the Champs-Élysées to the Arc de Triomphe, a custom Macron observed in 2017. This year, however, the bulk of the ceremony will take place at the Elysée Palace.