A head of state is a nation’s chief public representative — a monarch or president — distinct from the head of government who runs policy. State visits operate at this level: King Charles, as Britain’s head of state, hosted Sultan Haitham of Oman, a fellow head of state, in October 2026. The symmetry is the honor: monarch to monarch, nation to nation, above the daily traffic of politics.
(Presidential Executive Office of Russia / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0))
Mentioned in: Gun Salutes, Gilded Carriages and Centuries of Ritual: Why the Oman State Visit Matters