The Beckhams at the State Dinner

[stripeyshutters]

Ouch that's got to touch a nerve for the Sussexes ! I did notice that VB was respectfully dressed as was only right for the occasion.

Or most right minded people! Who the hell cares.

Someone up thread said she was inside, but not greeting them outside because Kate did that.

They invest a lot in uk, that's why Starmer invited him. Twat

It's the government that hold these "visits" not the royalty.

Camilla was at the state dinner, and at the indoor portion of the day with the Qataris, but she didn't attend the official welcome. Kate was at the welcome but not the rest of the stuff.

Considering their work in Qatar, it makes sense theyre there and not the Sussexes.

Why would he withdraw it from UK bank and bring it to the airport to give to Charles?

And corrupt head of state bringing it in diplomatic bag to give to Charles still sounds dodgy to me. 🙄

Looks remarkably like Camilla in this photograph of the state dinner.

In-case you missed the news - the UK is rolling out the red carpet because we do a lot of trade with the Qataris. They invest significant sums into our economy and we are seeking a trade deal with the GCC. This is another policy instrument to improve relations, which will lead to better economic outcomes.

I think it’s Qatar that is getting desperate here. The war has thrown up the precarious ground that Qatar now sits on as they have potentially wrongly allied with Iran. They have dropped out of negotiations as they have been shown to have little influence over hamas. Egypt has shown itself to be the bigger power. Qatar’s credibility is shaky despite entertaining hamas in luxury for years they have not shown themselves to be credible or powerful influencers and in the Middle East it’s all about power and influence. They are trying to buy soft power bought and paid for from the British royal family and our current anti Israel government. Despite the rhetoric there is widespread support for Israel in the Middle East.

Oh sorry, didn’t realise.

I presume Beckham was invited. He didn't just rock up in the hope the King might knight him on the spot.

Like it or not the Beckhams, who are both independently very famous, are still probably the biggest celebrity couple in the UK (at least outside of the royal family, but even there, the women weren't big names before they married in), and it makes sense for them to represent the UK at international events.

I doubt Harry and Meghan care particularly.

The King doesn’t decide on state visits. The government does.

Ah how lovely to see this example of excess and gluttony just a few weeks after pious Wills was spouting about homelessness. Makes my heart sing.

It’s all very well saying that Qatar has issues that need fixing. But so do we and we should be very careful taking the moral high ground. IMO it’s best to behave ourselves internationally and keep things cordial.

I wonder if Qatar has 10 hour waits in A&E like we routinely do? I wonder if they have patients in corridors or on the floor like we do? We accept some pretty poor human rights here whilst sitting in judgement of others. Often the state of our NHS leads directly to people dying. A pretty big human rights violation.

Re LGBT rights etc - I think we have to accept that we don’t run the world. We can run our little country - not everywhere else. We are fine with people being gay for example. Qatar may think we’re all going to hell for that due to cultural/religious differences. They may think we’re the ones that need fixing.

Slaves have built things in Qatar and died. We have plenty of modern day sex slaves here. Sometimes they get murdered as well. I don’t see the state going house to house with infra red detectors rescuing these sex slaves. Also, look at our rape stats - we report a tiny fraction of rapes as we know what happens. Woefully low prosecution rate. Years to get to court. Accused of lying. I’ve been on a bloody jury and watched the debacle - serial rapist went free.

we are not all that. We should look to ourselves first.

International relations and homelessness are not related.

You should take that up with Starmer who laid it on.

And are we so bloody wonderful?…

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14142235/amp/Jewish-children-terrified-thugs-London-bus-rocks-Israel.html

And I wonder what Qatar thinks of our TV shows:

Naked attraction - literally naked and judging bodies

It’s shocking to me that some people on here don’t seem to realise this. The RF hosting state dinners is not the gotcha that some seem to think it is.

I agree . The RF have had to host some deeply unpleasant people ( Ceaușescus for example) but if the Government wants it , the RF have to put personal feelings aside.
I say have to but I still recall Harry glowering during the State visit by Trump.

I don't think anyone has said that but I'm sure H and M avidly follow what is going on at the Palace and the Beckhams documentary was better than theirs. It's a two hit for them - the Beckhams at the palace ( the place they left in a strop yet hang onto the titles) and the documentary . That's basically it in their childish perception of the world.

You've missed the point.

Natural gas naturally