The floral colour scheme was more straightforwardly Christmassy than I was expecting, but somehow curiously subdued, compared with the state banquets earlieryl in the year. Perhaps the idea was to have the Christmas tree as the focal point (since it's a tradition we imported from Germany) and a conscious decision was made that the table decorations should not detract from its grandeur? What surprised me most was that despite the very Christmassy red and gold colour scheme, there seemed to be hardly any seasonal, evergreen foliage - and so no aroma of fir and spruce needles to add to the seasonal ambience.
Somebody in the royal household is obviously very fond of poinsettia, as they are a royal pain to persuade to reflower and treating them as disposable isn't really in keeping with the King’s environmental ethos. There were red nerines, but I didn't spot any camellias (there's a variety called ‘Yuletide’, which has single red flowers and showy golden stamens… just saying). Lots of Anemone coronaria, which are easy to force, because they don't need a chilling period. I couldn't identify any other species from the photos - I don't think many different species were used, unlike in the earlier banquets.
Red is a slightly tricky choice for a monochromatic colour scheme simply because it's a colour that bees and many other European insect pollinators don't see well, so red flowers tend to be from hotter climes and quite a lot are bird pollinated. On the other hand, it's quite helpful if you want things in flower at this time of year as there are lots of American species where flowering is triggered by decreasing day length and they flower until it freezes…
It was definitely the least seasonal of the displays we’ve had this year. That was probably inevitable, given that a state banquet is expected to be an opulent occasion, nevertheless I'm a bit surprised more use wasn't made of berries (there were a few, but generous clusters would have added to the grandeur and opulence in my opinion), red or orange Cornus stems and winter foliage. I thought the overall effect fell slightly between two stools: lots of flowers, because it's a grand occasion and money and resources aren't an issue vs. embracing seasonality and eschewing artificial light and heat on environmental grounds.