Entente cordiale. Friendly relations between England and France, stopping short of a formal alliance. The term was coined at Haddo House, the country home of the 4th earl of Aberdeen, by the French chargé d'affaires, the comte de Jarnac, in 1843. It is sometimes applied retrospectively to the 1830s, when Britain supported the government of Louis-Philippe in the face of the coldness of the conservative powers Austria, Russia, and Prussia, but it applied more properly to 1843–6. It was revived to describe the relationship inaugurated by the agreements of 1904, settling outstanding questions between the two countries, which eventually brought Britain into the First World War on the side of France and Russia, although no formal obligation existed.

Muriel Evelyn Chamberlain

Entente Cordiale, the the understanding between Britain and France reached in 1904, forming the basis of Anglo-French cooperation in the First World War.

Entente Cordiale Anglo-French alliance, formalized in April 1904. Outstanding differences, especially over colonies, were solved and the basis laid for future cooperation. The Entente was the first step leading to the Triple Entente.

http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/entecord.htm