It lasted barely a second, but it was the moment every royal watcher at Windsor Castle had been waiting for. As the State Visit of Sultan Haitham bin Tarik of Oman formally began on Tuesday, Oct. 20, Catherine, Princess of Wales, stepped forward to greet the visiting head of state, took his hand and dipped into a low, polished Curtsy. It was a small gesture executed flawlessly — and it became the talking point of the day, because of the greeting that did not happen. For while the Princess was seen curtsying to the Sultan, she was not seen curtsying to King Charles or Queen Camilla, a break from the pattern observers have grown used to at the start of previous state visits, and one that set social media quietly buzzing before the carriages had even rolled away.
A Welcome Staged to Perfection
State visits are choreographed to the inch, and Tuesday’s welcome ran exactly to script. Prince William had travelled to the Sultan’s London residence earlier in the day to greet him on behalf of the King, and the two men then made the journey to Windsor together. There, on the Royal Dais on Datchet Road, the formal welcome party waited as the Sultan arrived in full ceremonial style. The Sultan greeted King Charles first, with a handshake, and then Queen Camilla. Then came the moment with the Princess of Wales: she took his hand, said her hello, and sank into the curtsy that has since been replayed in photographs around the world. Nothing about it looked hurried or uncertain. It was, instead, the kind of greeting that comes from having performed this role at the highest level for well over a decade — measured, warm and exactly as formal as the occasion demanded.
(Frankie Fouganthin / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0))So Why No Curtsy for the King and Queen?
The obvious question followed within minutes: if the Princess curtsied to the guest, why was she not seen curtsying to her own father-in-law and his wife? The answer, royal experts were quick to point out, is almost certainly logistics rather than drama. On this occasion, the Princess arrived separately from the King and Queen, travelling in a car behind their escort rather than alongside them. Because of that separate arrival, the strong likelihood is that she had already greeted the King and Queen privately earlier in the day, before the public ceremony began. A curtsy is exchanged at the moment of greeting; it is not a performance repeated for the cameras each time two royals appear in the same frame. Where a private greeting has already taken place, protocol is satisfied, and there is nothing left to repeat in public. In other words, the missing curtsy says less about relationships inside the family than it does about the running order of a very busy morning.
That reading is supported by precedent. At previous state visit welcomes where the Princess arrived together with the King and Queen, she was duly seen greeting them formally. The difference on Tuesday was the sequence of arrivals, not any change of feeling. Royal protocol, for all its reputation for rigidity, is full of these practical accommodations: the rule is about respect being properly shown, not about how many times it can be photographed.
(The Royal Navy / Wikimedia Commons (OGL 3))Carriages, Coaches and a White-Tie Night
Once the welcomes were complete, the ceremonial machinery of the visit swung into motion. The Princess and Prince William travelled back to the castle in the Australian State Coach, while King Charles accompanied the Sultan in the Irish State Coach — the grandest of the royal carriages — at the head of the procession. It is a division of honours that speaks volumes about how these occasions work: the sovereign rides with the guest of honour, while the heir and his wife form the second carriage, visible, senior and splendid in their own right. The day was due to end in equal splendour, with a White-Tie Dinner in St George’s Hall, the vast ceremonial room inside Windsor Castle where state banquets are held, with its long table, heraldic ceiling and rows of gleaming silver. After the morning’s greetings, the evening promised the other half of statecraft: hours of conversation over dinner, where the real diplomatic work of a visit is quietly done.
What Happens Next
The Sultan’s visit is a short one. He is due to depart on Wednesday, Oct. 21, and his programme then takes him to London for a meeting with the Prime Minister — the political counterweight to a day of pageantry in Windsor. That rhythm, ceremony first and politics second, is precisely how state visits are designed to work: the monarchy provides the welcome, the history and the photographs, and the government handles the business that follows. For the Princess of Wales, Tuesday’s job is done, and done well. One brief curtsy, offered at exactly the right moment to exactly the right person, has become the defining image of the visit’s opening day.
(Number 10 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0))It is easy to underestimate these moments, to file them under costume and courtesy. But state visits are built out of them. A handshake here, a carriage ride there, a curtsy delivered with unhurried grace — each is read, weighed and remembered by the guests they are meant to honour. On that measure, the Princess’s greeting to the Sultan did its work perfectly. And the curtsy that never happened? It told its own quieter story: of a family comfortable enough in its routines that a greeting given in private needs no public encore.
A Welcome Staged to Be Watched
State welcomes are choreographed to the inch, and this one supplied the pictures to prove it. Military bandsmen stood in scarlet tunics with gold sashes, the Bandmaster’s own tunic heavy with gold embroidery, while members of the Household Cavalry waited in breastplates and plumed helmets along the road. The castle. On a wet October morning, the effect was deliberate: a display of continuity and welcome at a moment when such displays are broadcast instantly to the entire world. Every element of it — the carriages, the salutes, the music of the Band of the Grenadier Guards — was chosen to tell the visiting Sultan, and everyone watching, that this relationship matters.