Was the Emir of Qatar’s visit a good idea?

As the primary day of the Emir of Qatar’s state go to to Britain attracts to an in depth, all these concerned on this its organisation would possibly enable themselves a larger-than-usual measure of Christmas cheer. From Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani’s arrival within the nation earlier in the present day, the lavish pageantry of his welcome by the King, Prince and Princess of Wales and Keir Starmer, amongst many different dignitaries, has been precision-designed to be sure that the Emir has as pleasurable and eventful a go to to the nation as potential.

Tamim is a resolute Anglophile, who was educated at Harrow, Sherborne and Sandhurst, and Qatar stays an important investor in British infrastructure. In different phrases, this was a state go to undertaken for pragmatic causes, the place the optics on all sides have been rigorously designed to be as flattering and rewarding for all events as they’ll conceivably be. Maintaining the Emir blissful is essential for diplomacy and enterprise alike, and the much less savoury features of his regime – the rumoured human rights violations, his cosiness with Vladimir Putin and the nation’s full absence of democracy – won’t be introduced up besides in essentially the most rigorously euphemistic phrases. (‘We had a free and honest election this 12 months, Sheikh Tamim. Ever considered having such a factor your self?’)

The royal household know that they’re a useful element of such a high-profile occasion. It was testomony to the federal government’s swaying energy that Princess Catherine was current earlier within the day, alongside her husband and father-in-law, though the Queen’s continued unwell well being recovering from pneumonia – slightly than the chest an infection it was initially described as – has meant that she has needed to forgo the public-facing features of the day. She was nonetheless anticipated to attend the State Banquet this night, which Catherine will forgo, which means that the Emir has seen each main royal for an prolonged interval on his go to. Such intervals of ‘face time’ could also be extra welcome with some nation’s rulers than others. Qatari absolute rulers who have been nonetheless privately educated and went to Sandhurst could also be extra socially interesting than the subsequent American president.

But, even because the King was ceremoniously gifted a limestone and blue sodalite aspect desk with geometric shell and brass inlays, impressed by the ornament of the Amiri Diwan constructing, some unwelcome recollections of earlier dealings with the Qatar regime could have resurfaced. In 2022, it was revealed that the-then Prince Charles had taken tens of millions of kilos in money the earlier decade – in Fortnum and Mason provider baggage, naturally – from Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani, the previous prime minister of Qatar, and a determine nicknamed ‘the person who purchased London’. Though there was no suggestion of money for entry, and Clarence Home made it clear that the cash ‘handed instantly to one of many prince’s charities who carried out the suitable covenants and warranted us that every one the right processes have been adopted’, the transaction nonetheless regarded dodgy and underhand, at greatest. No one requested what Sheikh Hamad obtained for his cash, however maybe they didn’t have to.

This has been a grim 12 months for the royal household. The previous few months have seen the ship regular itself considerably, though the Queen’s absence from public life stays a priority for her many admirers, and this state go to ought to have been a triumphant reminder that Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace can do pageantry and pomp like no one else on this planet when they should. From this angle, mission completed, up to now at any fee. However from one other, there’s the worrying suspicion that an occasion like this reveals that entry to the royal household could be purchased by the deep-pocketed, like every other commodity. For all the grins, handshakes and bonhomie, this state go to is a sobering reminder that, within the immortal phrases of Wesley Snipes in New Jack Metropolis, ‘“’cash talks, and bullshit runs a marathon’. Qatari funding in Britain could also be a obligatory evil, however these liable for courting it ought to keep in mind each components of that well-known and constantly correct phrase.