State visit from King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia: October 30 - November 2, 2007

[CasiraghiTrio]

Getty Gallery from yesterday's reception of The King

AFP report from today's ceremonies
Summary: The Prime Minister Gordon Brown joined HM The Queen, and TRH The Duke of Edinburgh and The Prince of Wales in the formal welcome of King Abdullah at Horse Guards Parade. They marched along the Mall with the Household Cavalry band. Following the honour guard inspection, The Queen and The King rode to Buckingham Palace in an ornate carriage.

Pressure group Campaign Against The Arms Trade held a demonstration along the route of King Abdullah's carriage journey with the queen, calling for the reopening of the arms deal investigation.

I think today the Prime Minister and The Queen each had a meeting with The King, and there was the luncheon and tonight is the State banquet, right?

[Nico]

Juste seen on Sky: The duchees of Cornwall has the family order!!!!!!!!! (And wearing apparently the Honeycomb Tiara).

[GrandDuchess]

Absolutely wonderful, fantastic, fabulous and great news - I'm so happy for Camilla. Finally!

[BeatrixFan]

Today, the Windsors became civilised. Well done Ma'am - that yellow ribbon is very well deserved. And ok, I did write to the Queen demanding it be given but I won't take credit. This is faaabulous. Has Camilla got any Saudi orders on?

[CasiraghiTrio]

Awesome news about Camilla! Woohoo! We just must have a picture, though. Are we to have any pictures at all from the banquet?

There are more pictures from the parade today. There are just seven pics but they are nice ones. The Queen and King Abdullah apparently shared a funny joke in the carriage.
Abaca Press Americas Search Results

[RoyalProtocol]

HM The Queen has conferred the Royal Family Order on HRH The Duchess of Cornwall, though no Saudi Orders. Camilla was wearing the Queen Mother's honeycomb Tiara, and The Queen had on The Girls of Great Britian and Ireland Tiara.

The BBC has just finished their live feed from the State Banquet, a rather grand affair indeed. HM and HM led the procession into dinner (The Duke of Abercorn and The Lord Chamberlain walked infront) while the orchestra played two verses of the National Anthem (GSTQ) Then The Queen spoke and welcomed The King, there were no toasts as there is no alcohol just water but the National Anthems were played at the end of each speech. Then The King thanked The Queen and made his speech.

British Royals present (well the once I seen on TV) HM The Queen, HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, HRH The Prince of Wales, HRH The Duchess of Cornwall, HRH The Duke of York, HRH The Princess Royal, HRH The Duke of Gloucester, HRH Prince Michael of Kent, mayby more but I didn't see them on TV.

[Elspeth]

Perhaps the Family Order was a recognition by the Queen of Camilla's gracious behaviour during that fiasco surrounding her attendance and then non-attendance at Diana's memorial service.

Richard Kay's pen is probably on fire....

[royalgibraltar29]

Good save the Queen

[selrahc4]

Originally Posted by Nico

Juste seen on Sky: The duchees of Cornwall has the family order!!!!!!!!!

YAY!!!! I was hoping that would be the case.

[CasiraghiTrio]

There is video online too.
BBC NEWS | UK | Red carpet welcome for Saudi king

[RoyalProtocol]

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

[Nico]

First pics from abaca press.

Abaca Press Americas Search Results

Sadly not a clear picture of the DOC, we can just notice her (and the order) in the group behind...

[CasiraghiTrio]

ITN has another video.
ITN - Headline News

ITN - Campaigners criticise Saudi king's visit

Thanks for the update from Abaca, Nico. We can see in Picture 7, clearly enough in the background:
Princess Alexandra, The Hon. Lady Ogilvy
HRH The Duke of Kent
HRH The Princess Royal and Vice Admiral Laurence
TRH Prince and Princess Michael of Kent

You can't see the Gloucesters well or clearly at all but I believe it is them you can barely see behind Princess Alexandra....

[Nico]

New video from the BBC (nice glimpse of the DOC)

BBC News Player - Royal welcome for Saudi king

[CasiraghiTrio]

That is a good shot of the Duchess. I think we must have good pics of her tomorrow. This banquet is the occasion of her RFO debut and also the first time she has worn the honeycomb tiara, I think. It will be nice to have Some news from the State visit besides the King's sparking controversy about terrorism and the protestors about the Saudis' human rights policy. It is called diplomacy for a reason. This is one reason the royal family is so useful. Where the politicians are at loggerheads, the royal family can use their pageantry and fine entertainments to pave the way toward peaceful and mature discussions.

[Nico]

If i remember well The Duchess wore the honeycomb tiara during the brasilian state visit last year...but i could be wrong.

[ayvee]

The Duchess of Cornwall wore the honeycomb tiara for the first time on March 7, 2006 during the Brazilian State Visit to the UK. It's nice to see it making an appearance again.

-Ayvee

[Russophile]

Video - Breaking News Videos from CNN.com
Evidently the King's visit is causing a stir in GB.
I am wondering what that gal Jane was saying, I couldn't understand much of it!

HM's red coat and hat looked very nice on her, BTW.

[houri]

Originally Posted by RoyalProtocol

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

I believe the king don't wears any dedorations, and about the Queen referring to him as the custodian of the two Holy Mosques, it is the name every one calling him by even in unformal occasions, but it seems the king surname (the Custodian of the two Holy Mosques ) in English longer than it is in arabic if you understand me.

[HMQueenElizabethII]

I have chances to get several HQs, and they are quite good. However, there are still no pictures of the Duchess of Cornwall in those agencies yet. Well, so far, i think it has broken the long boundaries that the Queen and the Duchess of Cornwall do not have good relationship but now the State Banquet could prove the idea is wrong. Hopefully there would be some clearer footage as i could not see anything from the video provided.