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The ballroom of Buckingham Palace housed the finest gold and silver pieces from George IV’s Grand Service, looking as magnificent as ever.
The sight of nearly 1,000 glasses (six for each of the 161 guests, each spaced exactly 18 inches apart) plus a similar array of silver-gilt flatware always impresses the largest state visitor. Ditto the Household Cavalry and Royal Mews horses and carriages in their full glory.
It’s all part of the soft power masterclass that is a British state visit.
Still, it wasn’t hard to notice a subtle change or two yesterday, when South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa became the first state visitor to be welcomed to this country by King Charles III.
Take the flowers for example. Instead of the voluptuous, almost lavish displays that would previously spill over the table at these events, we had more subdued vases of fall gold and red picked at the Palace and Windsor (not a single stem was imported). Sustainability is now a high priority. Hence the source of the pheasant on last night’s banquet menu: Windsor Great Park.
The ballroom of Buckingham Palace housed the finest gold and silver pieces from George IV’s Grand Service, looking as magnificent as ever.
However, the most obvious change was simply the masculinity of it all.
Mr. Ramaphosa’s arrival was certainly a milestone in many ways. This was the first state visit of the new regime, the first state visit in more than three years and the first of the government of Rishi Sunak.
Britain’s last state visitor was Donald Trump in June 2019. However, Britain then had both a female prime minister and a reigning queen.
Last night’s state banquet produced something we haven’t seen here in over 70 years: two men sitting in a place of honor next to each other at the head of the table. The manly sense of yesterday’s welcome was heightened by the fact that President Ramaphosa had arrived alone, without the First Lady, who had remained in South Africa to recover from eye surgery.
The traditional pavilion was built on Horse Guards for the formal reception and inspection of the Guard of Honour, in this case the Coldstream Guards of Number 7 of the Company.
The president arrived a few minutes late and, being non-military, he paced quickly back and forth through the lines.
While officials kept track of the time, the King, along with the Queen Consort, then led him to the Irish State Coach for the procession to the palace.
The VIP greeting line that had gathered at Horse Guards – including the Prime Minister and Chiefs of the Armed Forces – would instead be introduced to the President at last night’s state banquet.
The sight of nearly 1,000 glasses (six for each of the 161 guests, each spaced exactly 18 inches apart) plus a similar array of silver-gilt cutlery never fails to impress the largest state visitor
Still, it wasn’t hard to notice one or two subtle changes yesterday, when South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa became the first state visitor to be welcomed to this country by King Charles III.
The Prince and Princess of Wales followed the two Heads of State, accompanying South African Foreign Secretary Dr Naledi Pandor in the Australian State Coach.
In the Grand Entrance, the South African entourage was greeted by a mix of old and new households. In addition to the King’s team from his days as Prince of Wales, here were the staff members who loyally served Her Majesty to the end, including her Lady in Waiting, Lady Susan Hussey, and her Master of the Household, Vice Admiral Sir Tony Johnstone-Burt.
This was to be expected. When organizing something as complex as a state visit – especially after a hiatus of more than three years – you want to muster all the experienced Palace veterans you can.
After a welcome lunch of salmon fillets followed by raspberry soufflé, the King and Queen led the President to the Picture Gallery for an exhibition of royal artifacts associated with South Africa. These began with the logbook and sketches of Queen Victoria’s son, Prince Alfred, who was the first royal visitor to the Cape in 1860.
Diplomatically skipping the Zulu and Boer Wars, the next showing focused on the visit of George VI and his family in 1947. There was a photo of Princess Elizabeth giving her famous speech for her 21st birthday, pledging “all life” to her peoples, in addition to her proper text.
Her equally historic speech, delivered on her first visit as Queen in 1995, following the election of President Nelson Mandela, was on an adjacent table. So were the photos of the two leaders (who became such good friends that Mr. Mandela was the only non-royal world leader the Queen would call “Elizabeth”—and get away with it). “This beautiful picture,” Mr. Ramaphosa remarked. “You were lucky to know [them] both,’ replied the king. The beautifully decorated chess set that Mr. Mandela had given to the Duke of Edinburgh had also been laid out.
There was a chuckle as the two heads of state viewed a photo of the King’s own visit to South Africa in 1997. Next to him were the Spice Girls, who had performed at a charity concert to benefit the Nations Trust, founded by the Queen and Mr. Mandela.
The Prince of Wales followed, clearly amused, as he pointed out the photo to Dr Pandor. “My father in South Africa,” he explained. “And the Spice Girls.”
Throughout the day there was a clear sense of excitement, of rejuvenation and clearing cobwebs throughout the palace. Long before the Queen’s death, even well before the Covid pandemic, things were winding down here as construction workers moved in to carry out the first major renovation since the reign of George VI.
Much of the place will be a building site for some time to come. Yesterday, however, was a very welcome return not only to business as usual – tiaras, carriages and all – but also to Buckingham Palace’s fully functioning role as Britain’s preeminent seat of state.