The Queen calls on France and the UK to strengthen ties with the US

The Queen has called for the UK and France not to weaken their strong ties with the US when she addressed the French Parliament.

"In a dangerous world our two nations have so much to offer when we use our strengths together," she said.

The Queen was speaking during the second day of her three-day state visit to France to mark the centenary of the Entente Cordiale.

Earlier in the day she visited a French market and watched a dressage show.

The Queen told Senate president Christian Poncelet and Assemblee president Jean-Louis Debre that permanent membership of the UN Security Council was one of the strengths the two nations had to offer.

"We have both made the choice of Europe and the European Union as a principal vehicle for our economic and political aspirations," she said.

"For both of us this does not, nor should not, in any way weaken our strong ties of friendship to the United States. "

ANGLO-FRENCH KEY MOMENTS 1904 - Entente Cordiale signed 1914 - UK sends troops to help the French in WW1 1941 - Charles de Gaulle says "Britain and France are bound together, for life and death, by the same destiny or by the same ideal" during WW2 1956 - Britain and France begin work on a supersonic jet 1963 - De Gaulle vetoes UK's bid to join the Common Market 1976 - Concorde flies for the first time 1994 - Channel Tunnel opens 2002 - Jacques Chirac, cancels Anglo-French summit after accusing Tony Blair of speaking to him rudely 2003 - Concorde completes last flight Queen's visit: In pictures

She went on: "In a dangerous world our two nations have so much to offer when we use our strengths together.

"Our diplomacy, our military capability, our common permanent membership of the Security Council, our positions at the heart of La Francophonie and the Commonwealth.

"Let us move on from our recent differences as our forbears did a hundred years ago."

The Queen's three-day stay marks 100 years of the Anglo-French Entente Cordiale - set up in 1904 to improve diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Earlier she visited a street market in Paris where Stallholders on the Rue Montorgueil offered her a bouquet of sweet peas and showed off a giant 20lb (9 kg) chocolate Easter egg painted with her likeness.

She also enjoyed a performance by a community choir and a display of dancing horses at the Cadre Noir.

On Wednesday, the Queen travels to the south-western city of Toulouse to inspect European aircraft consortium Airbus's headquarters before heading back to London.