--- title: Emmanuel Macron Hugging India's PM Modi Is an Eerie New Meme description: French President Macron traveled to India for a visit with Prime Minister Modi, leading to a photo op — and a new political meme. canonical: https://time.com/5196217/macron-modi-meme/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-03-12T19:30:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-12T21:17:58.000Z og:title: Emmanuel Macron Hugging India's PM Modi Is a Meme Now og:description: The French president met Modi on a visit to India — and this photo is the result og:url: https://time.com/5196217/macron-modi-meme/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta942857810083d54/69892a8e8fd2ee5f7535afc5/emmanuel-macron-narendra-modi.jpg?branch=production&width=1032&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1032 og:image:height: 581 og:image:alt: French President Emmanuel Macron Arrives In India For A Three-Day Visit og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Emmanuel Macron Hugging India's PM Modi Is a Meme Now twitter:description: The French president met Modi on a visit to India — and this photo is the result twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta942857810083d54/69892a8e8fd2ee5f7535afc5/emmanuel-macron-narendra-modi.jpg?branch=production&width=1032&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Photo of Emmanuel Macron Hugging India's Modi Gets the Royal Meme Treatment > Sponsored content. 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The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Updated: Dec 12, 2023 9:17 PM UTCPublished: Mar 12, 2018 7:30 PM UTC  Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomes French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron at AFS Palam on March 9, 2018 in New Delhi, India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomes French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron at AFS Palam on March 9, 2018 in New Delhi, India.Hindustan Times—Hindustan Times via Getty Images  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Updated: Dec 12, 2023 9:17 PM UTCPublished: Mar 12, 2018 7:30 PM UTC French President [Emmanuel Macron](http://time.com/5015770/emmanuel-macron-interview-transcript/) dropped by India over the weekend for France’s first state visit to the southern subcontinent since January 2016. He was greeted warmly by Indian Prime Minister [Narendra Modi](http://time.com/4901564/narendra-modi-india-70-independence-day-speech/), getting a friendly hug upon his arrival for the four-day visit. But with photographers stationed to capture every last moment of their meeting, Macron happened to emit a piercing glare in the direction of the flashbulbs at the exact time of their embrace. Now, that shot is getting the [royal meme treatment](http://time.com/4849577/justin-trudeau-emmanuel-macron-g20/), thanks to Macron’s very intense look. This isn’t the first time that the very photogenic Macron has captured the internet’s attention, of course; his [bromance with](http://time.com/4795597/justin-trudeau-emmanuel-macron-photos/) fellow world leader Justin Trudeau is the [stuff of Twitter legend](http://time.com/4849577/justin-trudeau-emmanuel-macron-g20/). Perhaps this visit with Modi, which includes a number of potential deals around solar and [nuclear energy](https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/pm-modi-macron-push-for-worlds-largest-nuclear-power-plant-in-india-1822646) plants, will lead to even further photo ops and viral images circulating on the internet. For now, Macron’s look is keeping commentators occupied with finding the perfect caption to describe his eerie gaze while enveloped in Modi’s signature bear hug. Is he a [Lannister](http://time.com/4891351/game-of-thrones-jaime-lannister-kill-cersei/) — or a Hindi soap opera villain? Here are some ideas. > [](https://twitter.com/AisiTaisiDemo/status/972775040017039360) > [](https://twitter.com/nishant0511/status/972812105337458694) > [](https://twitter.com/danicamclellan/status/972198738004393984) > [](https://twitter.com/Atharvp/status/972784006331682816) > [](https://twitter.com/Madan%5FChikna/status/972883842112638981) > [](https://twitter.com/fallenhero24/status/972796794169012226) > [](https://twitter.com/ankit2connect/status/972872243452592128) > [](https://twitter.com/jinendoshi/status/972903749042745345) > [](https://twitter.com/tweetsfromTH/status/973243579933085706) > [](https://twitter.com/scjessey/status/973256213189287936) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5196217/macron-modi-meme/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5196217/macron-modi-meme/"},"headline":"This Photo of Emmanuel Macron Hugging India's Modi Gets the Royal Meme Treatment","datePublished":"2018-03-12T19:30:17.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-12T21:17:58.000Z","description":"French President Macron traveled to India for a visit with Prime Minister Modi, leading to a photo op — and a new political meme.","url":"https://time.com/5196217/macron-modi-meme/","keywords":["Newsfeed","politics","viral"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta942857810083d54/69892a8e8fd2ee5f7535afc5/emmanuel-macron-narendra-modi.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta942857810083d54/69892a8e8fd2ee5f7535afc5/emmanuel-macron-narendra-modi.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"French President Emmanuel Macron Arrives In India For A Three-Day Visit","caption":"French President Emmanuel Macron Arrives In India For A Three-Day Visit","creditText":"Hindustan Times—Hindustan Times via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5196217/macron-modi-meme/","name":"This Photo of Emmanuel Macron Hugging India's Modi Gets the Royal Meme Treatment"}}]}] ```