‘Of course we will give it back’: Bayeux tapestry set for secret journey across Channel

Key points

• As the Bayeux tapestry wends its way across the Channel in a top secret operation there will be no jolts, no bumps, no shakes or vibrations – unlike the voyage of William the Conqueror whose 1066 victory at Hastings the artefact recounts.
• “Nothing has been left to chance,” Catherine Pégard, the French minister of culture, told a gathering to mark the historic loan, which will be physically achieved with the tapestry, which is really an embroidery, transported in a specially constructed cradle within a container, the minister said.
• “All and any vibration that could pose a risk to the fibres of the tapestry will be absorbed.
• The container is the result of scientific and technical savoir faire and has been tried and tested,” she said, adding that she could not give details of when and how the tapestry would be moved “for security reasons”.
• Humidity in the container will be...