It has been hailed as the greatest act of entente cordiale in decades.
But The Mail on Sunday can reveal that the historic return of the Bayeux Tapestry to these shores descended into diplomatic farce when French bureaucrats cried ‘Non!’ at the last minute.
The 11th-century masterpiece was due to make a dead-of-night journey home in the company of bigwigs from the British Museum, including chairman George Osborne, and a BBC camera crew.
Preparations included two dry runs with a copy in a climate-controlled crate equipped with shock absorbers.
But the plan was thwarted when police guarding the Channel Tunnel in Calais banned passengers,
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