Posted by Neill on October 22, 2009, 5:46 am, in reply to "State Visits Vs. Royal Visits"
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I wouldn't get too hung up on the word "state" when used in these contexts. We've come to think of a state visit as a trip by a head of state to a foreign country. However, it has more traditionally been used merely as a synonym for "official" or "formal", which I think is a much better way to look at it.
The term has also been used by a Sovereign for a visit to one of his own Realms. For example, when George IV visited Scotland - the first monarch to do so in well over a century, and the first of the Hanoverians to do so and the first since the Jacobite uprising - his visit was called a State visit. Of course in those days it was more difficult to get from London to Edinburgh and the Stuart Soverigns very rarely made the journey either.
Another example is the use of State Opening of Parliament. It merely implies that Her Majesty is attending formally with all the bells and whistles as opposed to less important occasion.
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