Social distancing maintained as Johnson greets Macron

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson shared an awkward bow with Emmanuel Macron as he welcomed the French president to Downing Street on Thursday.

The leaders were meeting in the UK capital as part of the commemorations to mark General Charles de Gaulle's call for French resistance against the Nazi occupation during World War Two.

Macron earlier attended a wreath laying ceremony with Britain's Prince Charles and bestowed France's highest honour, the Legion d'Honneur, on the city from which de Gaulle made his landmark "Appel" radio address to the French nation on June 18, 1940.

The meeting between the two leaders also gives Johnson the chance to raise the subject of Britain's on-going Brexit negotiations with the European Union, as well as both nations' responses to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.