The King’s Speech at the Qatar State Banquet

3 December 2024

Your Highnesses,

ASSALAMU-ALAYKUM [Peace be upon you].

It gives my wife and myself the greatest possible pleasure to welcome you to Buckingham Palace this evening, on your first State Visit to the United Kingdom.

In many ways, this evening might be seen as a homecoming. Your Highness is no stranger to these shores, having spent so many of your younger years at three of our most renowned institutions: Sherborne, Harrow and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. Your many visits since then have served as a testament to the close personal ties that bind our nations and our families.

This evening, I am delighted to mark the renewal of our enduring friendship:

HAYYAKUM – MARRATAN UKHRA – FEE AL-MEMLIKA AL-MUTAHHIDA, BALADKOM ATH-THANI [welcome back to the United Kingdom, your second home].

Your Highnesses, our unique, shared history stretches back over 160 years. The United Kingdom is proud to be Qatar’s oldest friend in the Western world. We have a special bond founded on mutual respect which has stood the test of time.

Indeed, Qatar’s role in navigating the challenges of recent years has been invaluable – from supporting evacuations from Afghanistan, to helping to keep the world moving in some of the darkest days of the pandemic. Your humanity, vision and leadership matter more than I can possibly say.

Your Highnesses’ visit comes at another moment of great global change. We are living through significant turbulence, the climate emergency, and the white heat of a scientific and technological revolution. Just as our parents served and worked so hard to confront the challenges of their ages, so too must we. And at such times of uncertainty and upheaval, old friendships assume even greater importance.

If I may, I would particularly like to express the United Kingdom’s deepest gratitude for your tireless mediation efforts over the past year in pursuit of peace, in the face of unbearable heartache and suffering. In these most desperate of circumstances, Qatar’s continued toil, perseverance and diplomatic efforts are, quite simply, beyond compare.

These are duties that we all share. As the Qur’an says: “Whoever saves a life, it will be as if they saved all of humanity.” And as the Bible says: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.” We stand with you in our commitment to a world where peace and justice prevail over division.

So, as we work together to address the immediate and urgent issues of the day, I take some comfort in the knowledge that our governments are also collaborating to tackle the most pressing shared threats to humanity: climate change and biodiversity loss. On clean energy, our joint initiatives are paving the way for a much less polluted future, one where economic growth and environmental stewardship go hand in hand. I am greatly encouraged to know that we are embarking on a partnership that will, over the next twenty years, place our nations jointly at the forefront of clean energy technology development.

In the rapidly advancing fields of science and technology, British and Qatari researchers and clinicians are working together on cutting-edge projects that have the potential to transform our world. This includes work on genomics, where experts are developing unique models to identify rare disease at an early stage – a technology developed in the United Kingdom, refined in Qatar, and now deployed in multiple locations across the globe.

In addition, British schools and universities have welcomed countless young men and women from Qatar who seek to broaden their horizons and gain the skills to lead and to serve. Just as importantly, Britain has, I am heartened to learn, contributed to the thriving, world-class educational system that you have nurtured so carefully in Qatar. Twenty years ago, at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, of which I am still proud to be Patron, your dear mother Sheikha Moza argued eloquently for progressive education, for creating that “hunger for knowing” which promotes development and nurtures unity. The United Kingdom is proud to have played a part in helping to turn that vision into today’s reality.

Our cultural exchanges have deepened the bonds between our peoples, enriching both our societies. Our artists, writers, museums, galleries, and cultural institutions weave our rich heritages together. The cooperation between our national libraries, for example, has produced perhaps the most successful Middle East archive digitization project in the world, with more than two million pages of material available online.

Your Highnesses, from Sandhurst to Al Dukkan Airbase, our great defence institutions are animated by Qatari and British officers living and working in partnership. The Joint Squadrons we have are truly unique: the only such units that the Royal Air Force has maintained globally since the Second World War. They are totems of an essential partnership that stretches across every service, and at every level.

As we reflect on the breadth and depth of our relationship, it is clear that the ties between Qatar and the United Kingdom are profound, personal and historic. They are built on years of collaboration, mutual respect and a shared commitment to peace and prosperity.

I am filled with optimism about the possibilities that lie ahead for our two great nations. Whatever new challenges and opportunities emerge, I am confident that we will meet them together.

So in that spirit, I would like to propose a toast: to Your Highnesses, to the enduring friendship between the State of Qatar and the United Kingdom, and to the continued prosperity and well-being of our peoples.

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