Thai State Visit to Britain, 1960
The British Royal Family hosted King Bhumibol Adulyadej and Queen Sirikit of Thailand on their State Visit to Britain on this day in 1960, which began with an Official Welcome at Victoria Station, followed by a Procession through towards Buckingham Palace where a State Banquet was held that evening, but was sadly not pictured. The King and Queen also paid homage at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior at Westminster Abbey.
Other engagements included a visit to Trinity College, Cambridge and a Luncheon hosted by the Lord Mayor of London at the Guildhall with Princess Alexandra. On the second evening of their visit, the King (wearing the Order of the Royal House of Chakri and the Royal Victorian Chain) and Queen (in her Thai Tiara, Diamond Fringe Necklace and the Order of the Royal House of Chakri) attended a Dinner and Reception hosted by Selwyn Lloyd, the Foreign Secretary at Lancaster House, and the following evening, they had Dinner at Claridges Hotel followed by a private dance given by the Duchess of Kent at Kensington Palace.
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The State Visit ended with a Return Banquet hosted by the King and Queen in honour of the Queen (wearing the Vladimir Tiara, Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee Necklace and the Order of the Royal House of Chakri) and members of the Royal Family at the Thai Embassy in London. Britain was the first European stop on King Bhumibol Adulyadej and Queen Sirikit’s monumental State Visits around Europe in the Fall of 1960, which was followed by visits to Germany, Portugal, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Italy, the Vatican, Belgium, France, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, and Spain, eventually ending in November with their return to Thailand.
