Most state visits to Britain, it is fair to say, are relatively low-key, jolly and uncomplicated. On the orders of Downing Street and the Foreign Office, the royals get the best silver and the tiaras out, and put on a show and a feast. Such exercises are an exercise in what’s called “soft power”, which is sometimes the only kind of power the British still possess. The House of Windsor has it in abundance.
State visits are designed to butter-up existing or prospective friends, or help restore fractured relations. The last one, by President and Madame Macron on behalf of the French Republic, was certainly a repair exercise, after years of open hostility from Boris “donnez-moi un break” Johnson and Liz “friend or foe?” Truss. It passed off very well. Macron made a graceful speech or two, and soon the Bayeux Tapestry will be on display at the British Museum. Last year, the Emperor and Empress of Japan were similarly warmly welcomed, without even a token protest this time by old soldiers about atrocities during the Second World War.
