Many on the French left were in buoyant mood on Friday after the success of the previous day. They claimed that three million people were on the streets to protest against Emmanuel Macron’s pension reform bill, and they hope there will be a similar turnout on Tuesday for the next organised demonstrations.

Commentators have described the cancellation as a ‘humiliation’ for Macron. Is it? Or is the humiliation the Republic’s?

Few wished to dwell on the violence – the burning of town halls and the smashing of shops – and some, like Philippe Poutou, who stood for the New Anti-capitalist party in last year’s presidential election, claimed that protestors have ‘the right to respond’.

Earlier in the week one of Poutou’s party comrades, Olivier Besancenot, had warned King Charles that when he arrived on France on Sunday he would ‘be welcomed with a good old general strike’.

On Friday it was announced that the King’s visit had been cancelled, another reason why the French left were cock-a-hoop. How they gloated. ‘The meeting of the kings at Versailles broken up by popular censure,’ declared Jean-Luc Melenchon, while one of his MPs, Raquel Garrido, tweeted: ‘Two kings were due to meet at Versailles. One down. One to go.’

Another of the party, Alexis Corbière, said: ‘Since he no longer receives the king of England Charles III, Macron can receive the inter unions now.’

Macron made such an offer a few hours later. Speaking at an EU Summit in Brussels, the president appeared unruffled by the anarchy that had erupted across the Republic the previous day. ‘We will yield nothing to violence, I condemn violence with the utmost strength,’ he declared. So, no, the pension reform bill will continue its course, its next stop an examination by the Constitutional Council, France’s highest constitutional authority.

In the meantime, said Macron, his door is open to the unions to discuss other issues, such as ‘the end of careers, retraining, career development, working conditions, and remuneration in certain sectors’.

Asked why the state visit had been postponed, probably until the summer, Macron replied that it didn’t make sense to host the King and Queen ‘in the middle of the demonstrations’.

British commentators have described the cancellation as a ‘humiliation’ and a ‘terrible blow’ to Emmanuel Macron. Is it? Or is the humiliation the Republic’s?

In response to the news that the King isn’t coming, the leader of the centre-right Republicans, Eric Ciotti, tweeted: ‘What an image for our country to not be able to ensure the security of a head of state.’

Macron will agree but his spin on the cancellation is ‘don’t blame me, blame the anarchists’.

It’s a message that will resonate with millions of French – the children, the elderly, the social conservatives – who were proudly looking forward to welcoming the King of England on his first state visit. Where will their anger and embarrassment be directed: the president or the thugs?

The main French television news on Friday lunchtime interviewed several residents of Bordeaux as they surveyed the smouldering entrance of their city hall, set alight by a mob on Thursday. Their anger was visceral.

Indignation is also growing among shopkeepers, hoteliers and restauranteurs across the country, whose revenue has dropped by as much as 80 per cent because of the protests and strikes. They’re not blaming Macron for forcing them to shut up shop for fear their business will be ransacked.

Residents in Lyon this week hurled abuse at a group of protestors who were setting fire to dustbins. ‘Get the hell out,’ they were told. ‘Go and burn down your own neighbourhood’. The more disorder the more likely the silent majority will find their voice and speak out against the violence and the protests from where it springs. The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, who is opposed to the pension reform, called for calm on Friday, saying: ‘I condemn this violence, because it distracts attention from a subject on which a huge majority of French people agree.’

Laurent Berger, the leader of the moderate CFDT Union, described those responsible for the mayhem as ‘cretins’. ‘Everyone is worried this morning,’ he said on Friday. ‘There has been violence that is unacceptable.’ He echoed Hidalgo’s appeal for calm.

The unions have called for another day of protest on Tuesday, and they will be more worried than Macron at the prospect of more violence. No matter that the vast majority of people on the streets are protesting peacefully, all it takes are a couple of thousand ‘cretins’ to damage their cause. Macron and the unions are engaged in a war for public opinion and King Charles is collateral damage.