Her Majesty the Queen has on
several instances extended and make her home open for courtesy visits to heads
of states from different nations of the world.
And considering how prestigious
it is to have the queen’s audience, no world leader would want to decline any
slightest opportunity to meet with Her Majesty.
However, the queen does not
choose who visits her, rather, it is the government and the Foreign Office that
arranges such events. They determine whether any head of state is worthy of
such an honour to visit the queen. Thus, an invitation to President Trump is
not exempted from such a gesture.
Recall that when the Chinese and
Saudi heads of state were invited to London, similar protest arose, that is why
the protest against president Trump’s visit may not be a surprise to anyone after
all.
Though names like Romania's
President Nicolae Ceausescu, Russia's Vladimir Putin and President Robert Mugabe
of Zimbabwe are possibly all signatures the Queen would rather not have in her
guest book.
Although, in the case of Trump
the momentum this petition has received demanding the government to halt the
said visit, still surprises certain persons, as more than one million people
have signed, saying if allowed to go on, it will bring a huge embarrassment to
the Queen.
Even though the palace has so far
stayed quiet about the visit, the Queen realises it is her duty to be friendly
and welcoming to all of her guests, and that her hospitality is an important
way in which she can serve our country.
She knows the quiet power the
Royal Family has on the international stage; they are a secret weapon for the
government. An audience with the Queen is enough to make any world leader feel
special.
Not every American president has
received a full state visit but that's exactly what Donald Trump will
experience.
British pageantry at its finest:
the dust sheets are pulled off the gold carriages, the state banquet cutlery is
polished.
The ultimate in keeping up
appearances, even if hundreds of thousands of your subjects would rather this
latest guest had stayed at home.
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