Sultan of Oman Begins First State Visit to Britain in 44 Years — Carriages, Banquets and Real Diplomacy at Windsor

Photo: Foreign Ministry of Oman via Wikimedia Commons — Oman Open Government Licence 1.0. Official portrait of Sultan Haitham bin Tarik Al Said.

The Union Jack is up in Windsor, the horses are groomed, and for the first time in 44 years a Sultan of Oman is visiting Britain as a head of state. Sultan Haitham bin Tarik begins a three-day state visit today, Tuesday October 20 — and while the carriages and banquets are pageantry, the timing is pure geopolitics.

It will be an unusually heavyweight affair. King Charles III, 77, and Queen Camilla, 79, host the visit at Windsor Castle, but it is the Prince of Wales who gets the first moment: William will greet the Sultan at his residence this morning on the King's behalf, before travelling with him to Windsor for the formal welcome at the Royal Dais on Datchet Road. Royal Salutes will be fired in Home Park and at the Tower of London. Then a carriage procession through Windsor — the King, the Queen, the Prince and Princess of Wales, and their guest — to the castle, where a Guard of Honour and both national anthems await in the Quadrangle.

After a private lunch in the State Dining Room, the Sultan will be shown a display of Oman-related treasures from the Royal Collection in the Green Drawing Room. Tonight's State Banquet at Windsor will open with speeches from both the King and the Sultan.

Nothing like this has happened since March 1982, when the late Queen Elizabeth II hosted Sultan Qaboos bin Said. Forty-four years. In the decades since, the relationship has quietly deepened: Charles has visited Oman four times, most poignantly in January 2020 for the funeral of Sultan Qaboos; Camilla joined him in 2016; and Sultan Haitham had a private meeting with the King at Windsor last July.

Why Windsor, not the Palace

The choice of venue tells its own story. Buckingham Palace is midway through a ten-year, roughly £370 million reservicing programme that began in April 2017 — boilers, cabling, water tanks and pipework, some of it untouched since the 1950s. State banquets have decamped accordingly. The Qatari Amir's visit in December 2024 was the last full state visit at the Palace; Donald Trump's September 2025 visit and the Nigerian state visit this March both went to Windsor. St George's Hall, where the banquet will be held, seats around 160 — slightly smaller than the Buckingham Palace ballroom, and the site of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's 2018 wedding reception.

This is not just ceremony

Look at the Sultan's travelling party and the diplomatic picture sharpens. Alongside the Omani foreign minister, Badr Albusaidi, come Deputy Prime Minister for Defence Affairs Sayyid Shihab bin Tarik Al Said and Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Sayyid Theyazin bin Haitham Al Said. Defence and economics at the top of the delegation means the conversations at Windsor will range well past protocol.

Oman's own news agency said the visit aims to deepen the longstanding relationship and broaden cooperation across multiple sectors, with the two leaders expected to take up regional and international developments. That last phrase carries weight. The backdrop is the war around Iran that followed US-Israeli strikes in February, the retaliatory strikes on Gulf states hosting American bases, and President Trump's threat to bomb Oman itself over its mediation role — Oman has been in talks with Tehran aimed at restoring commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

The two countries marked the 225th anniversary of their original 1800 bilateral agreement last year — more than two centuries of ties built on defence, trade, investment and education. On Wednesday, after a farewell from the King and Queen, the Sultan travels to London for a meeting with the Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street and a banquet at the Guildhall hosted by the City of London Corporation. Thursday takes him to Here East at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park to tour urban regeneration projects and an SME industry showcase at Plexal, before he departs from Stansted.

State visits are Britain's grandest diplomatic tool — and this week, for the first time in two generations, it is aimed at Muscat.

Editor's note: no broadcast footage from a major UK outlet was available at the time of publication. We will add official video coverage as it becomes available.

Sources

• Reuters — Britain's King Charles to host Oman's Sultan for October state visit
• People — Why King Charles and Queen Camilla Are Hosting the Sultan of Oman at Windsor Castle
• Oman News Agency (via HelloFaRead) — Oman's Sultan Begins First State Visit to UK Since 1982
• The Royal Observer — King Charles's Oman State Visit Shows Why Royal Diplomacy Still Matters

Photo: Foreign Ministry of Oman via Wikimedia Commons — Oman Open Government Licence 1.0.