Stunning show for Queen
NZPA-Reuter Riyadh The Queen’s State visit to Saudi Arabia has turned out to be a stunning show of the wealth of the desert kingdom and the splendour of the Royal House of Saud.
The Queen and her entourage were keenly aware before they arrived on Saturday of Saudi Arabia’s status as an important Arab Power.
They also knew of the weight it carried in the councils of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries as the world’s biggest exporter of oil.
But King Khalid’s welcome banquet in the new Ma’Ather Roj r al Palace was impressive beyond expectations.
The Queen’s limousine drew up on a floor of black marble. A robed retainer burning incense led her into a lofty marble hali where the centrepiece is a model of the Omar Mosque at Jerusalem done in glittering mother-of-pearl. Early on the second day of the visit the Queen was taken to the Planning Ministry, where they spend the money earned by Saudi oil. More marble gleamed in the foyer in sharp contrast to the office corridors of London’s Whitehall. Dr Hashem Nazer, the Minister, briefed her with the aid of coloured slides on the 1975-80 plan, on which the Saudis are spening $14,000M. All 7.73 M people in Saudi Arabia get free medical care and are flown abroad by the State if they need specialist treatment.
Dr Nazer said the country was short of manpower and would need 800,000 foreign workers in 1980 out of a labour force of 2,300,000. It also needed to build more flats and houses but, “We aimed at doubling our educational system in five years, and we think we will be able to do that,” Dr Nazer said.
Next the Queen went to a race meeting where a camel race gave a novel twist to “the sport of kings” and finally came probably the most lavish feast the Queen has sat down to in 27 years on the Throne.
In a Bedouin tent pitched in the desert about 15km outside Riyadh, Prince Salman, governor of the capital, gave what the official programme called a picnic supper.
Guards, with swords in scabards adorned with beaten gold, ringed the tent where 35 lambs were served among 200 guests.
Other delicacies included lobster and smoked fish from the Red Sea and prawns in aspic with truffles.
Stunning show for Queen
Press, 20 February 1979, Page 9
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Press. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 New Zealand licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Copyright in all Footrot Flats cartoons is owned by Diogenes Designs Ltd. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise these cartoons and make them available online as part of this digitised version of the Press. You can search, browse, and print Footrot Flats cartoons for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Diogenes Designs Ltd for any other use.
This newspaper was digitised in partnership with Christchurch City Libraries.
Log in