King Charles decided to dispense with this tradition and invite his fellow sovereigns. Here is the list so far of the foreign royals who have confirmed their attendance:
Belgium: The King and Queen
Denmark: The Crown Prince and Crown Princess (Queen Margrethe II is recovering from back surgery.)
Greece: Queen Anne Marie, Crown Prince Pavlos, and Crown Princess Marie Chantal
Japan: The Crown Prince and Crown Princess
Luxembourg: The Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Luxembourg
Monaco: The Prince and Princess
The Netherlands: The King and Queen. (Princess Beatrix & the Princess of Orange will attend the reception at Buckingham Palace on May 5.)
Norway: The Crown Prince and Crown Princess
Serbia: Crown Prince Alexander and Crown Princess Katherine
Spain: The King and Queen
Sweden: The King and the Crown Princess
The Greek and Serbian royals are family members of former ruling families and would not have been bound by the no sovereign rule.
This is how I think the guest list would have looked if Charles continued the tradition:
Belgium: The Duchess of Brabant
Denmark: the Crown Prince and Crown Princess
Japan: The Crown Prince and Crown Princess
Luxembourg: The Hereditary Grand Duke and Hereditary Grand Duchess
Liechtenstein: the Hereditary Prince and Hereditary Princess
Monaco: the Princess of Hanover
Netherlands: the Princess of Orange
Norway: the Crown Prince and Crown Princess
Spain: Infanta Elena of Spain. (The Princess of Asturias is still a minor)
Sweden: Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel
The only country that I didn’t understand the chosen representatives is that of Sweden. The King is going to be accompanied by his daughter instead of his wife and the Crown Princess’s husband is staying home as well. I hope that both are well. I know Prince Daniel has kidney issues that are seldom discussed but Queen Silva has always appeared remarkably well.
ReplyDeleteMarlene,
ReplyDeleteIsn’t it time there was a state visit to the UK by the Belgians?
Correct me if I am wrong,but I think the last state visit was by King Baudoin in 1963.
Because King Albert never was accorded a state visit,he wasn’t given the order of the Garter.
Perhaps the King felt it would be important for the Crown Princess to accompany him
ReplyDeleteYes, the last Belgian state visit to the UK was in 1963. It is up to the UK government to extend an invitation for a state visit. Three years later, the Queen paid a state visit to Belgium. I think we will see far fewer state visits
I wonder if the Duke of Braganza received an invite.
ReplyDeleteUnlikely. He is not a close relative
ReplyDelete