State Visit from the King of Saudi Arabia: October 30-November 2, 2007


If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Status
Not open for further replies.
well perhaps I did not google enough.

Wonder if royals meet his wife (wives) when they visit SA, and are guests behind closed doors.

Interesting infromation although I don't think Wikipedia is a good resource for true infromation , personally I know that Tadi not tardi Al-Jorba is his first wife and she is from arabian tribe which is also the same tribe that his mother from.
 
This is precisely why I was waiting forward to that visit so much - orders! ;)
It's wonderful Camilla has received the Royal Family Order! She deserves the yellow ribbon . :)

Poor Richard Kay, I don't envy him. :D
 
This is precisely why I was waiting forward to that visit so much - orders! ;)
It's wonderful Camilla has received the Royal Family Order! She deserves the yellow ribbon . :)

Poor Richard Kay, I don't envy him. :D


Avalon...just curious...what is going on with Richard Kay? Was an article posted here that I missed or is something else going on? :flowers:
 
Has anyone seen a full length picture of Princess Michael. I saw a glimpse of her dress, and would love to see the rest of it.

Also, any pictures of Sophie?
 
I agree with you about the color of his beard and moustache it is look like what my father moustache look after coloring it, it is not good at all.

Houri, I know just what you mean, and thanks for the funny quote about it. It was Alan Hamilton in the Times, right? He made that comment I think, but don't remember for sure. Anyway, I never even thought about his moustache before until I read that, and I thought it was so funny. I never even thought about someone dying their moustache! Makes one wonder if he would bother dying the rest of his hair, but of course who can tell with it all covered? :D

Guys, I think overall this visit was a GOOD THING! I have done some thinking about it, serious thinking, and my strong feeling is that it shows everyone in a good light. Most of all, it shows what a FABULOUS diplomat The Queen is. She is one of a kind and makes it look so easy. It is not easy, but maybe it's easy for her now after all these years, to be so perfectly diplomatic in the face of all this nervousness and controversy! She is such an amazing model of diplomacy. She just amazes me all the time. God Save The Queen! :angel:
 
Last edited:
It is not how they treat their criminals. And your railing about how your country deals with terrorism, which gets large amounts of funds through Saudi Arabia, seems a dichotomy.
Errr, the terrorists I was talking about, if you read my post, are the ones that prowl the streets of Britain, mugging innocent people, shoplifting, shooting young boys, knifeing or kicking to death anyone who challenges them! No funds for policing our streets or dealing with international terrorists comes through SA, as far as I know.
 
Most of all, it shows what a FABULOUS diplomat The Queen is. She is one of a kind and makes it look so easy. It is not easy, but maybe it's easy for her now after all these years, to be so perfectly diplomatic in the face of all this nervousness and controversy! She is such an amazing model of diplomacy. She just amazes me all the time. God Save The Queen! :angel:
I don't really see any reason for her to struggle with welcoming HM. There was more controversy over the US president coming over.

As I said, who are we to be constantly interfering in how other countries run their lives. I find it amusing that some of the people complaining about the UK's colonial past in another thread, are the same people saying we should shun the SA King until he changes the way he runs his country, the way they want him to! :rolleyes:

This is a superb visit and I am happy to welcome him, dyed hair or not. :)
 
Unfortunately, crime exists everywhere. Yes, you should have better protection. The people who blow up your Underground or buses, I suspect, should upset you ,too.
 
I don't really see any reason for her to struggle with welcoming HM. There was more controversy over the US president coming over.
I think there are personal reasons that The Queen and The King might enjoy each other's company, and you can see they shared some funny words at a couple of moments (at least) in the ceremonies of yesterday. Please do not compare this to the US President. I feel you are picking on me, Sky. :D I am a US citizen, yes, but I never voted for Bush (not the first time, not the second) and I never liked him. I would hate to have him visit my country as much as I hate having him "in charge" of my country. :ermm: That aside, I don't think you can compare everything. Bush is one thing. This event is another thing.
As I said, who are we to be constantly interfering in how other countries run their lives. I find it amusing that some of the people complaining about the UK's colonial past in another thread, are the same people saying we should shun the SA King until he changes the way he runs his country, the way they want him to! :rolleyes:

This is a superb visit and I am happy to welcome him, dyed hair or not. :)

I don't have any problem with diplomatic visits and with heads of state paying courtesy to each other. This is how things are done, how they have been done since.... well, since there have been civilizations of any kind.
I did have a feeling that The Prince of Wales was uneasy, and I suppose maybe he worried about it looked, with his Global Citizen Award and the others like it, meeting this oil capital king. I don't know. Maybe I had the mistaken impression, but I think this must have been discussed to some extent between him and his aides. But as I said, I think this event was well-handled by everyone. It was a model for how the kind of thing is appropriately done. I also don't mind about dyed hair (why would I?) but still think it's funny about the moustache! :lol:
 
Camilla was looking Fab yesterday at the banquet the Tiara was excellent on her.And HM Queen she was great as always

GOD SAVE THE QUEEN>
 
Please do not compare this to the US President. I feel you are picking on me, Sky. :D I am a US citizen, yes, but I never voted for Bush (not the first time, not the second) and I never liked him. I would hate to have him visit my country as much as I hate having him "in charge" of my country. :ermm: That aside, I don't think you can compare everything. Bush is one thing. This event is another thing.
Oh CasiraghiTrio, I did not mean to pick on you or the US. Contrary to popular belief, I like the US. I was only trying to point out that whoever visits, there is always someone demonstrating against them and that by comparrison this could only be seen as a minor demo!:flowers::flowers:
I did have a feeling that The Prince of Wales was uneasy, and I suppose maybe he worried about it looked, with his Global Citizen Award and the others like it, meeting this oil capital king. I don't know. Maybe I had the mistaken impression,
Now you know what a little tinker Charles can be, if he had a problem with the visit, he would unfortunately have had a prior engagement, as he did with the Chinese visit. :D
 
Avalon...just curious...what is going on with Richard Kay? Was an article posted here that I missed or is something else going on? :flowers:

Richard Kay is a Daily Mail journalist who used to have Diana's confidence so she'd feed him snippets of news to print during the time she was engaged in the Wars of the Waleses with Charles. He doesn't seem to be able to bring himself to print anything favourable about Camilla - a week or so ago he said something in an article about Camilla having taken Diana's HRH. The sight of Camilla wearing the Family Order must have really upset him.
 
From all the interviews I saw for the king and the opinions of the people who met the king I don't think any one include the Queen would not enjoy his company over the dinner, in fact it is known that he is the most favorite member of the royal family to saudis, and even if I don't like the fact the he colors his beard in back he still looks good for his age.
 
Oh CasiraghiTrio, I did not mean to pick on you or the US. Contrary to popular belief, I like the US. I was only trying to point out that whoever visits, there is always someone demonstrating against them and that by comparrison this could only be seen as a minor demo!:flowers::flowers:
Now you know what a little tinker Charles can be, if he had a problem with the visit, he would unfortunately have had a prior engagement, as he did with the Chinese visit. :D

The Chinese don't give ruby necklaces. Also, they don't control oil, which is a lifeline. Charles is a smart man. I don't believe he had a choice.
 
I agree with you, Countess. I think Prince Charles did not have a choice. He had to be there for this event entirely and in a prominent way because the people in power wanted to be sure the Saudi king had the highest reception. Any lesser royal than Charles would have been.... seen as possibly insulting to the King.
 
The Chinese don't give ruby necklaces. Also, they don't control oil, which is a lifeline. Charles is a smart man. I don't believe he had a choice.
At the same time, Prince Charles should keep in mind that China is one of the world's power-players with long memory... ;)
 
Just one question which just occured to me, Did His Majesty have on any Orders and Decorations, it so hard to tell with that outfit he had on (for want of a better word).

Also it was interesting that The Queen referred to him as King Abdullah, Custodian of the two Holy Mosques, very formal, and unusual, she normally just says Your Majesty. Its a bit like him getting up and saying Queen Elizabeth II, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of her other realms and territories Queen, Head of The Commonwealth, Defender of The Faith. Now that would be a mouthful, but your get my idea:ohmy:

"Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques is the Saudi equivalent of "His Majesty." The King dislikes the latter term as "only God is all majestic."
 
Last edited:
"Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques is the Saudi equivalent of "His Majesty." The King dislikes the latter term as "only God is all majestic."

I don't know about consider it as a crime but if you translate the English term ( His Majesty ) to arabic it will be equivalent to the arabic term "Jalalteh" which we as a Muslims use it with the name of Allah so I don't think that the king like to be equal to the God.
 
The West's friendship with Saudia Arabia didn't get controversial until they tried Saddam Hussein on human rights crimes. War makes strange bedfellows and even stranger rationalizations sometimes.

The Queen is a head of state so she has pledged to support the government's public relations efforts with its allies. She has probably been to several state affairs where she is wondering 'What the hell am I doing here?' and then had to remind herself, 'Because we're the Queen!'
 
Now you know what a little tinker Charles can be, if he had a problem with the visit, he would unfortunately have had a prior engagement, as he did with the Chinese visit. :D

I think Charles has changed his attitudes about China several years ago.After all he did meet one Chinese official years ago who is the Minister of the Police now and he seems to like Lang Lang and some other chinese business men. :lol:

He boycotted the state banquet in 2001 was because he still felt bitter how about the return ceremony of 1997 hong kong return to China and he said in his diary that he was spied on when he was on the board of Britainia.I think he was pretty angry about that. he human rights and the religions are just excuses and I get a feel that he does not like the idea of communism at all. For 2005 I think it was because he and Camilla was really too tired about the US trip.Anyway, I am looking forward to seeing him visiting China in a year or two. He is a smart man after all.He will be welcomed. :lol:
 
Last edited:
{deleted for consistency - Elspeth}
He boycotted the state banquet in 2001 was because he still felt bitter how about the return ceremony of 1997 hong kong return to China and he said in his diary that he was spied on when he was on the board of Britainia.I think he was pretty angry about that. he human rights and the religions are just excuses and I get a feel that he does not like the idea of communism at all. For 2005 I think it was because he and Camilla was really too tired about the US trip. :lol:
The Epoch Times | Diaries Reveal Prince Charles Regarded Himself a "Dissident"

I'm still pleased he came and glad he appears to have had a good time.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I just love how they are holding hands, you can just see the love these two people have for each other.
 
Really Sophie? I believe it is the only photo that I have seen of the two of them holding hands! Usually Charles has his hands in one of his pockets or handling his cuff-link. :)
 
{political comments deleted - Elspeth}

To end where I began: I am not comfortable with my Head of State, albeit in a very different role, playing the gracious host to those whom, I'm convinced, are probably secretly laughing up their sleeves, in private. And why wouldn't they?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
The Queen has been put in this position before by governments wishing to appease or form relationships with questionable regimes. This is one of those cases where she doesn't have a lot of choice; she's the Head of State, and the government sometimes has to (and sometimes apparently just wants to) be friendly with some countries which have less than admirable humanitarian records. The USA is a firm friend of Saudi Arabia, Tony Blair followed where George Bush led, and the Queen gets to smile at the King of Saudi Arabia.
 
To end where I began: I am not comfortable with my Head of State, albeit in a very different role, playing the gracious host to those whom, I'm convinced, are probably secretly laughing up their sleeves, in private. And why wouldn't they?

I share your lack of comfort about our Head of State in these circumstances.

In my heart I have finally accepted that British interests and ours have diverged so much over the past 50 years that the British monarch can no longer serve both Britain and Australia equally, and therefore should no longer be our Head of State. I am not yet ready to admit that to the Republicans of my acquaintance though.

ETA I just want to add that I wholeheartedly believe in diplomacy, and that it is important to keep the lines of communication open in the hope of negotiating a satisfactory resolution and averting war. Diplomacy can definitely achieve what politics cannot. I would just like my representative to owe his/her primary loyalty to Australia, not Britain.
 
Last edited:
Well Ladies, and Gentlemen, what do you say? As always, it is an immense pleasure to discuss these weighty issues with you. There is so much wonderfully stimulating conversation, thus the reason for my regular visits to the forums. I think, however, a coffee break (remove the thinking caps, have a rest) and some pictures are in order.

:photo:

From left, Britain´s Secretary of State for Justice Jack Straw, Prince Andrew, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and the Lord Mayor of London, John Stuttard stand in the Guildhall in London before the State Banquet, Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2007. (AP Photo/Lewis Whyld/PA)

See picture
Top row, #4 from right, click it to make it appear as preview on the right side, and click the preview to see even bigger version....
 
Is that an ermine cape the Lord Mayor is wearing?
 
Is that an ermine cape the Lord Mayor is wearing?
I think you are right, it certainly looks like it. :flowers:

{response to deleted post removed - Elspeth}

IOL: Saudi king prepares for tour of Rome

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia left Britain on Thursday, the Foreign Office said, after a state visit which was the first stop on a tour which will also take in Italy, Germany and Turkey.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom