A User's Guide to British Royal State Visits: Theatre of Diplomacy
How months of meticulous preparation transform Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace into stages for some of the world's most elaborate diplomatic ceremonies
On a crisp morning at Windsor Castle, Charlotte Watson runs her experienced hands along the gleaming coat of a carriage horse, checking every detail with the precision of a master craftsperson. "Everything gets polished to an inch of its life," she explains, her voice carrying the quiet pride of someone who knows that in a few hours, these horses will carry world leaders through the streets of Windsor in a spectacle watched by millions.
Watson is a senior liverweed helper at the Royal Mews, one of hundreds of people whose invisible work transforms British state visits from diplomatic meetings into grand theatre. Her horses are just one element in a choreographed performance that has been refined over more than a century and takes nearly a year to perfect.
The Invitation
State visits begin not with fanfare, but with careful diplomatic calculation. Formal invitations are sent by the Royal Household via the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, typically to the closest friends and allies of the United Kingdom. In July 1981, then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher established the criteria that still guide these decisions: a state visit should promote the interests of the United Kingdom, be welcome to the hosts, and be in keeping with the duties and dignity of the Royal Family.
Planning begins approximately 12 months in advance, requiring coordination between the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Royal Household. As one American historian noted about similar visits to the US, these events require "six months of meticulous planning" – and the British system is even more elaborate.
Only around two state visits occur each year, making them among the rarest and most coveted diplomatic honors. Queen Elizabeth II hosted around 112 state visits during her 70-year reign, while King Charles III has continued the tradition since his accession.
The Choreography Begins
Military Precision
Lieutenant Colonel Charlie Foynette from the Coldstream Guards understands better than most how the pieces fit together. As Brigade Major at Headquarters, Household Division and London District, he orchestrates what he calls "the most splendid reception we can manage."
"To bring all the elements together, you need to rehearse," Foynette explains. "The troops that you see here on parade will have trained in barracks and in their own training areas to get their element correct. And then we bring them together and we practice the overall choreography."
That choreography is intricate. The ceremonial welcome usually takes place on Horse Guards Parade, with a Guard of Honour provided by members of the King's Guard – typically from one of the five regiments of foot guards: Grenadier Guards, Coldstream Guards, Scots Guards, Irish Guards, and the Welsh Guards.
Following the performance of the national anthems – first of the visiting country, then "God Save the King" – the commander of the guard of honour, usually a junior officer, reports to the dignitary in the visitor's own language. The report follows a precise formula: "Your Excellency, the guard of honour, provided by the [states name of unit], is formed up, and ready for inspection."
The band then plays a slow march while the formation is inspected. If the sovereign is present, the State Colour from the regiment's 1st Battalion is dipped during the playing of the anthem.
The Carriage Procession
After the military ceremonies comes one of the most visually spectacular elements: the carriage procession. The visiting dignitary and the King travel down The Mall in a state carriage – usually the 1902 State Landau – escorted by the Household Cavalry with street liners from battalions of the Foot Guards. Union Flags and the flags of the visiting country line both sides of the road.
This is where Charlotte Watson's months of preparation come to fruition. "We have a set of horses, there are three sets all together," she explains. "When you're working within your set you're making sure that your horses are tip-top condition. They should be really well prepared, we've got a really good team of people on the ground who know what they've doing and they've been all over the world so we can utilize all of these strengths and talents and get these horses where we need to be. Really fit, nice and supple, nice and soft and relaxed."
The welcome is accompanied by 21-gun salutes fired from Green Park and the Tower of London. The largest guard of honour ever formed was in 2003 during President George W. Bush's visit, when the Household Cavalry and the King's Troop were paraded in front of the visiting dignitaries at Buckingham Palace.
Behind Palace Walls
Curating History
While the public spectacle unfolds outside, equally meticulous preparation has been underway within the palace walls. Stella Panayatova, Royal Librarian and Assistant Keeper of the Royal Archives, has spent months crafting something more subtle but no less important: an exhibition that will forge intellectual and emotional connections between the visiting nation and Britain.
"For every state visit, we select material and prepare an exhibition," Panayatova explains. "We're both for choice, the collections are incredibly rich. We're looking for historically significant material, intellectually enticing, sparkling material and of course visually appealing, beautiful things."
The exhibitions are carefully tailored to each visitor. When the King of Spain visited in 2017, a display included items dedicated to Queen Ena of Spain, who was Queen Victoria's youngest granddaughter and King Felipe's great-grandmother. These aren't random historical artifacts – they're diplomatic tools designed to highlight shared heritage and common ground.
"They could include books which trace the increase of knowledge about the visiting country in the UK over the centuries," Panayatova notes. "They could be artworks which trace the development of styles and tastes and influences. And you can see how vital those personal collections were to forging strong official diplomatic links."
Her goal is ambitious: "The exhibition tries to create a sense of a shared past, which is of course the most solid foundation for building understanding and common ground for the present."
Gardens as Diplomacy
Outside, Adam Scott, Gardens and Nursery Manager for Windsor Castle, has been orchestrating his own form of soft diplomacy through landscape. "The gardens are responsible for bringing together obviously the outer space of the visit, so all the lawns got to look immaculate, all the beds, all the paths, it's got to look as good as we can, so the visits coming in get the best experience."
Scott's team doesn't just maintain; they create. "Gardens team forage what's looking great at that point of the year. So we use the moat garden and all the other gardens around the castle at that time, including the East Terrace. Growers team are responsible for bringing together all the inner displays for the gardens and the castle, so the trees we bring in, the seasonal interests and the different textures."
The seasonality is crucial. "Each state visit differs obviously seasonality plays a massive part of that especially out in the gardens what we can do inside picking and how the gardens look as well and then obviously we want to make it slightly different and have that extra design element an extra creative element to that as well so we try and make it as unique to that state visit as we can."
Even the food benefits from this horticultural diplomacy. "There's some really nice traditional elements that the growing team do for the kitchens as part of these events and throughout the year really. Dessert leaves are picked throughout the estate and sent up to the kitchens for them to use on the table. We've got the peach houses and fruit houses that are used so we'll pick them throughout the year and we've also recently got beehives so the honey from that can be taken up and used towards that as well."
The State Banquet
Culinary Diplomacy
The culmination of much of this preparation occurs on the first evening of the visit, when around 150 to 170 guests gather in the Ballroom at Buckingham Palace for the state banquet. Since 1914, State Banquets in London have traditionally been held in the Ballroom at Buckingham Palace, completed in 1855 during Queen Victoria's reign and originally known as the Ball and Concert Room.
Mark Flanagan, Royal Chef and Assistant to the Master for Catering, has been planning this meal for months. "It's our opportunity to show the best of our British produce," he explains. "We'll serve usually 160 at the banquet, but we'll probably serve close to 500 meals in total that day."
Formal gilt-edged invitations are sent out two months before the event and preparations for the banquet begin several weeks in advance. Invitations go to all the ambassadors and high commissioners at foreign missions in London, as well as past Prime Ministers, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, and other public figures.
The menu itself becomes a diplomatic document. "For most of our menus, we try to make sure that we use the best that we can of the seasons, produce from the different estates so we really can utilize as much as possible," Flanagan notes. "For the banquet, we make choices and suggestions and Their Majesties will make the ultimate decision. We always try to reflect and be mindful of the visiting country. We don't try to replicate their style of food, but then we'll put a nod to something in the menu some way."
The meal spans four courses: fish, main course, pudding and dessert. Each dish is prepared by hand from scratch to ensure freshness. The menu is written in French, and each place setting includes six glasses for water, red and white wine, dessert wine, champagne and port, along with up to a dozen pieces of cutlery.
The table is set using items from the Grand Service – a dinner service of silver gilt comprising over 4,000 items, originally made for George IV when Prince of Wales at a cost of around £60,000 and first used at a banquet in 1811.
The Theatre of Power
At Buckingham Palace, the table is arranged in a horseshoe shape, with the monarch and their guest of honour seated at the top table. The table is decorated with over 100 candles in silver-gilt candelabra, along with displays of seasonal fruit and striking flower arrangements in silver-gilt centrepieces.
The seating chart is confirmed by both the King and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. During the dinner, honours and decorations of both heads of state are worn, and both speeches are checked extensively by the FCDO.
Before dinner is served, the King makes a speech and proposes a toast to the visiting Head of State, who replies and in return proposes a toast to His Majesty. These speeches, while appearing spontaneous, are diplomatic documents in their own right.
Flanagan takes pride in the team effort required. "It's a great opportunity for us to work with the team. And we've got quite a large team. got 20 chefs. Also we have a number of past apprentices who have stayed with the team and have grown through the ranks. So it's really good to see how everybody can develop through the banquet and use their knowledge at the next one."
Business Behind the Ceremony
After all royal meetings are held, the visitor engages in meetings with leaders of His Majesty's Government, beginning with the Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street. In many of these meetings, multi-million pound business agreements are settled upon. Meetings are also held with the Leader of the Opposition, leaders of other parties represented in the House of Commons, and members of the British Cabinet.
The economic impact can be substantial. In June 1978, Nicolae Ceaușescu's state visit resulted in a £200m licensing agreement between the Romanian government and British Aerospace for the production of more than eighty BAC One-Eleven aircraft – at the time the biggest civil aircraft agreement between two countries.
The visiting head of state may also be given the chance to address both chambers of the British Parliament assembled in the halls of the House of Lords in joint session.
The Modern Challenge
Managing these elaborate ceremonies in the 21st century presents unique challenges. Security considerations have intensified dramatically, though specific arrangements remain classified. The sheer logistics of coordinating hundreds of staff, from Charlotte Watson's horses to Mark Flanagan's kitchen brigade, require military-style precision.
State visits do not occur between the UK and the 14 other Commonwealth realms (such as Australia or Canada) as they all share the King as head of state. This means the full state visit treatment is reserved for republics and foreign monarchies, adding to their exclusivity and diplomatic weight.
Recent state visits have included major powers and strategic allies. King Charles III has hosted the President of South Africa (November 2022), the President of South Korea (November 2023), Their Majesties The Emperor and Empress of Japan (June 2024), and the Amir of Qatar (December 2024).
The Theatre Continues
As Lieutenant Colonel Foynette reflects on the military's role, his words capture something essential about these elaborate ceremonies: "I think it's really important that the military play our part in this. We are part of the state, we are intimately tied up particularly in the Household Division with the Royal Family so there's an awful lot of military symbolism associated with what we do."
The symbolism extends beyond the military elements. Every aspect of a state visit – from Charlotte Watson's perfectly groomed horses to Stella Panayatova's carefully curated exhibitions, from Adam Scott's seasonally perfect gardens to Mark Flanagan's diplomatically nuanced menu – serves the same fundamental purpose: to create what Foynette calls "the most splendid reception we can manage."
In an era of video calls and instant communication, the elaborate ritual of the state visit might seem anachronistic. Yet its very extravagance serves a purpose that digital diplomacy cannot replicate. These visits create shared experiences, memorable moments, and personal relationships between leaders that can prove crucial in international relations.
As King Charles noted during one such occasion, "State Visits, both outward and incoming, play an integral role in strengthening Britain's relationships with other countries."
The grand theatre continues, with Charlotte Watson's horses, Mark Flanagan's kitchens, and hundreds of other dedicated professionals ensuring that each performance is, indeed, the most splendid reception they can manage. In a world where diplomatic relationships can shift rapidly, the investment in this elaborate ceremonial infrastructure represents a uniquely British approach to international relations – one that values the power of shared experience, historical continuity, and, above all, putting on an unforgettable show.
