[1] When used today the term almost always denotes the second Entente Cordiale, that is to say, the written and partly secret agreement signed in London between the two powers on 8 April 1904.

Britain was maintaining a policy of "splendid isolation" on the European continent, ceasing to be concerned with the balance of power and intervening in continental affairs only when it was considered necessary to protect British interests.

As early as March 1881, the French statesman Léon Gambetta and the Prince of Wales, Albert Edward, met at the Château de Breteuil to discuss an alliance against Germany.

A colonial dispute in 1898 between France and Britain came to boiling point in the Sudan with the Fashoda Incident, in which both countries sought to gain control of the Upper Nile river basin.

Théophile Delcassé, the newly appointed French foreign minister, nevertheless was keen to gain Britain's friendship in case of any future conflict with Germany.

In order to avoid going to war, both powers "shucked off their ancient rivalry"[4] and resolved their differences in Africa, the Americas, Asia, and the Pacific.

Credit for the success of the negotiation of the Entente Cordiale belongs chiefly to Paul Cambon (France's ambassador in London from 1898 to 1920) and to the British Foreign Secretary, Lord Lansdowne.

A German attempt to check the French in Morocco in 1905 (the Tangier Incident, or First Moroccan Crisis), and thus to upset the Entente, served only to strengthen it.

"[9] Such commentary however proved spurious, for the Triple Alliance collapsed as a result of Italy remaining neutral at the outbreak of World War I, while the Entente endured.

At both London Waterloo International and Paris Gare du Nord, the flags of United Kingdom and of France were depicted, connected with the words 'Entente cordiale' superimposed on posters.

In April 2024, to commemorate the 120th anniversary of the Entente Cordiale, France's Gendarmerie's Garde Républicaine took part in the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace.