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LONDON: Congratulation flooded London this week from heads of state around the world, two messages in particular that served as a reminder of the special relationship that reigned in the Kingdom of Saudi and British during Queen Elizabeth II’s 70-year reign. flourished among the royal families.

Behind the formality of the cable sent by King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, wishing “sincere congratulations and best health and happiness” on the occasion of his Platinum Jubilee, is the history of the friendship from the early days of his reign. , which started on 6 February 1952.

That day, her father, King George VI, died while Elizabeth, 25, and her husband, Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, were in Kenya on a tour of Africa.

Leaving England a princess, she went home in mourning as Queen Elizabeth II. His coronation took place on 2 June the following year.

Among the guests at the coronation were members of the Gulf’s four royal families: the rulers or representatives of the then British protectorates of Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar, and Prince Fahd bin Abdulaziz, the 78-year-old representing King Abdulaziz, Saudi Arabia’s founder and first monarch, Who had only five months left to live.

The ties between the Saudi and British monarchies cannot be measured by the frequency of ceremonial occasions alone, although an examination of records of state visits conducted by Buckingham Palace reveals an illuminating difference.

Since the Queen has replaced her father, there have been no fewer than four state visits to Britain by Saudi monarchs, a number matched by only four other countries, including the UK’s near-neighbors France and Germany.

The first person to visit London was King Faisal, who at the start of his eight-day visit in May 1967 welcomed everyone with a full British statehood reception.

The Queen met members of the British royal family and prominent politicians – including the then Prime Minister Harold Wilson – at Buckingham Palace with King Faisal Elizabeth and Philip in an open horse-drawn state carriage, which traversed the streets of London was drawn in with a cheering crowd. ,

During a busy eight-day schedule, the king found time to visit the Islamic Cultural Center in London and pray.

His son Prince Bandar, who graduated from the Royal Air Force College Cranwell that year, deputized for his father to oversee English Electric Lightning fighter jets being prepared for shipment to Saudi Arabia. Later, the prince would fly the Lightning as a fighter pilot in the Royal Saudi Air Force.

King Faisal was followed by his successor King Khalid in 1981, King Fahd in 1987 and King Abdullah in 2007 for state visits to Britain.

In February 1979, aboard the supersonic jet Concorde, Queen Elizabeth visited Riyadh and Dhahran during the Gulf Tour, which also took her to Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman.

In Saudi Arabia, they were hosted by King Khalid and enjoyed a range of events, including a desert picnic and a state dinner at Riyadh’s Mather Palace.

In return, she and her husband hosted a dinner for the Saudi royal family on Her Majesty’s yacht Britannia.

Poignantly, Britannia would last return to the bay in January 1997, during her final tour, before decommissioning the royal yacht in December of that year.

However, the relationship between the two royal families has not been limited to great state occasions.

An analysis of regular court circulars published by Buckingham Palace shows that members of Britain’s royal family met with Gulf monarchs more than 200 times between 2011 and 2021 alone – the equivalent of a fortnight. Forty of these informal meetings were with members of the House of Saud.

Most recently, in March 2018, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had lunch with the Queen in private audience as well as at Buckingham Palace.

Later, he dined with the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge during a visit to the UK which included meetings with the then Prime Minister Theresa May and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.

Serious topics such as trade and defense agreements are often the subject of such meetings. But good-natured fun, rather than strict formality, is often a hallmark of private gatherings between royal families, as Sir Sherrard Cowper-Coles, the British ambassador to Saudi Arabia from 2003 to 2006, would later recall.

In 2003, Crown Prince Abdullah, the future King of Saudi Arabia, was the Queen’s guest at her estate in Scotland, Balmoral Castle.

This was his first visit to Balmoral and, happily accepting an invitation to tour the large estate, he climbed into the passenger seat of a Land Rover, only to find that his driver and guide had to become the Queen himself. .

After serving as an army driver during World War II, he has always driven himself to Balmoral, where locals are used to seeing him behind the wheel of one of their beloved Land Rovers.

She is also known to have a lot of fun at the expense of the guests as she hurtles a vehicle in the narrow streets and rugged terrain of the estate.

According to Sir Sheard’s account, Prince Abdullah took the ride to the fairgrounds well, although at one point, “through his interpreter,” he asked “the Queen to slow down and focus on the road ahead.” requested.”

In addition to their resemblance to royalty, the Queen and the Kings of the Bay have always bonded over their mutual love of horses, a shared interest that dates back to at least 1937, when Elizabeth was an 11-year-old princess.

To mark the occasion of his father’s coronation that year, King Abdulaziz presented an Arabian mare to King George VI.

Turfa, a life-size bronze statue of a horse, was unveiled in 2020 at the Arabian Horse Museum in Diriyah, where it stands today.

At the unveiling, Richard Oppenheim, the then UK Deputy Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, highlighted how the two royal families had always bonded over this common interest.

“The Queen has many horses, and King Salman and the Saudi royal family also love horses,” he said.

The Queen also shares love with Sheikh Mohammed Al-Maktoum, Ruler of Dubai and Vice President of the United Arab Emirates, who owns the internationally renowned Godolphin Horse Racing Stables and Stud Farm in Newmarket, home of British horse racing.

The two have often been seen together at great events on the horse racing calendar, such as the annual five-day Royal Ascot meeting, considered the crown jewel of the British social season, which runs from 14–18 June this year. ,

Team Godolphin has had several winners at Royal Ascot, where the Queen’s horses have won more than 70 races since their coronation.

This weekend, as flags fly from homes and public buildings, thousands of events are taking place across the UK to mark his platinum jubilee, including street parties; Traditional Trooping the Colour at Horse Guards Parade; gun salute; a fly-past by the Royal Air Force, watched by the Queen from the balcony of Buckingham Palace; and the illumination of more than 3,000 beacons nationwide.

At 96 years old, Elizabeth – Queen of the UK and Commonwealth, and monarch for more than 150 million people – has reached a rare royal milestone, not only in Britain, but around the world.

As of Friday, he would have ruled for 70 years and 117 days, putting him within nine days of becoming the second longest-serving monarch in world history.

King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand from 1946 until his death in 2016 at the age of 88, ruled for 70 years and 126 days.

Only Louis XIV of France was on the throne longer, ruling for 72 years and 110 days between 1643 and 1715.

The secret to Elizabeth’s longevity, perhaps, lies in the words of the British national anthem “God Save the Queen”, which will be sung heartily at events across the UK this weekend: “Long live our great Queen … happy and glorious, may long reign over us, may God protect the queen.”