Paris: Australia's governor-general has been one of the first to benefit from the country's submarine deal with France, touring some of Paris' finest palaces to a universally rapturous welcome.
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The timing was (allegedly) pure coincidence, but on a day meeting two ministers and the president, Sir Peter Cosgrove can thank Canberra for choosing his hosts over Japan and Germany – and ensuring a much more genuine reception.
French media have hailed the $50 billion contract as the "deal of the century" – it is projected to lead to the creation of thousands of jobs in France, mainly on sites in Cherbourg, Nantes and Lorient.
And the French government gets a nice boost to its budget – the state is a 62 per cent shareholder in DCNS.
But the win is not just an economic lifesaver for a stagnant France. It is a political lifesaver for Sir Peter's host on Tuesday night, President Francois Hollande, who has been suffering through historically low approval ratings. One poll in early April found that just 14 per cent of the country thought he was doing a good job.
Australia, of course, says DCNS won the contract on technical merit.
However France pulled out all the diplomatic bells and whistles to grease the wheels of commerce.
As far back as November 2014, submarines were on the agenda when Hollande visited Australia – the first visit by a French president. During that trip he invited a regiment of Australian troops to take a place of honour in the Bastille Day military parade in 2016.
At the time, Le Monde reported France was hoping that in 2016 the "centennial relationship", marking 100 years since Anzac troops arrived at the Western Front, would "weigh in our favour when the time comes" for the submarine decision.
France staged a lavish welcome for Sir Peter's visit this week – planned with the tender still up for grabs, and featuring a generous agenda which would not have gone unnoticed in Canberra.
He met with the French defence minister on Monday morning, though at the time the result of the tender had not been announced.
That evening in Paris he got the full brass band treatment at the Arc de Triomphe: squadrons of ceremonially-dressed guards, a 144-horse parade down the Champs-Elysees, accompanied by French foreign minister Jean-Marc Ayrault and not one but two airings of the Australian national anthem, in a rush-hour extravaganza that brought central Paris traffic to a standstill.
On Tuesday, with the deal now public knowledge, Sir Peter toured the gilded, mirrored and chandeliered halls of the mayoral palace, then was taken on a personal tour of the medal-heavy Legion d'Honneur museum (another très-fancy palace).
He was then welcomed at the Palais-Royal, once the personal residence of Cardinal Richelieu, welcomed by the French Minister of Culture Audrey Azoulay. There, Australia's National Archives director David Fricker was pinned with a green medal signifying he was now a 'chevalier de l'ordre des arts et des lettres', literally a knighthood (though a junior one).
There was much talk in the speeches about shared history, faithful friendship and genuine mutual respect.
And there was to be much more such talk at the Elysee Palace on Tuesday evening, at a state banquet amid opulent luxury.
According to diplomatic sources, the French were "sick with worry" before the announcement of the tender winner.
They needn't have worried.
Their diplomacy, like their submarines, is force to be reckoned with. Beneath the surface, it was tracking its target all along.
