Sultan of Oman Welcomed at Windsor as King Charles Quotes the Prophet in Arabic

Sultan Haitham bin Tarik of Oman began a three-day state visit to Britain on Tuesday, October 20, welcomed at Windsor Castle by King Charles, Queen Camilla, William and Catherine. It was the first state visit by an Omani ruler since 1982, when the late Queen Elizabeth II welcomed Sultan Qaboos, the present Sultan’s cousin, to Buckingham Palace (People; Page Six; The Independent).

Prince William greeted the Sultan at his London residence on his father’s behalf and then accompanied him to Windsor, People and Page Six reported. The party travelled to the castle in a horse-drawn carriage procession, with gun salutes fired at Windsor Home Park and at the Tower of London. The procession went ahead in heavy autumn rain, Newsy Today reported.

On Tuesday evening, the King hosted a state banquet in St George’s Hall at Windsor Castle for about 160 guests, among them Prime Minister Andy Burnham, Princess Anne and senior cabinet members, according to reports of the evening. In his speech, Charles praised Oman’s “constructive neutrality” and its role as a trusted interlocutor to all parties in a region where conflict has painfully returned, The Times reported in coverage carried by Royally Inspired. He commended the country’s “noble efforts” in trying to keep open the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important shipping routes, the BBC reported via TBS News.

The King also quoted, in Arabic, a hadith of the Prophet Muhammad about the people of Oman: “If you come to the people of Oman, they will neither revile you nor beat you,” the BBC reported via TBS News. The narration, recorded in Sahih Muslim, tells of a man sent to another tribe who was insulted and beaten, and of the Prophet telling him that had he gone to the people of Oman, they would have done neither.

Charles also pointed to the ties between the two royal families’ next generation. Prince William and the Sultan’s son, Sayyid Theyazin, are joint patrons of the Jewel of Arabia Expedition, a thirty-day journey on foot, by camel and by four-wheel drive retracing the 1928 route of the explorer Bertram Thomas. “There can be few happier symbols of success than a living relationship being passed from one generation to the next,” the King said, according to TBS News.

In his reply, Sultan Haitham reaffirmed Oman’s commitment to diplomacy, saying his country “seeks solutions... we believe in dialogue,” TBS News reported. “Oman has chosen a different path, an independent path; we take positions for dialogue, for understanding and for peace,” he said, in the account published by Zot News. “A wise nation chooses to listen. Oman has chosen to listen. And in that listening, we have found a strength that armies cannot provide.”

The visit also included talks at Downing Street with Prime Minister Andy Burnham, where an agreement was due to be signed that is expected to generate more than £1 billion in new mutual investment between the two countries, TBS News reported. When the visit ended, the King and Queen bid the Sultan farewell at the Sovereign’s Entrance of the castle, the PA news agency reported; the Queen shook his hand and told him, “Goodbye. I hope you have a good journey back.”

At the banquet, Catherine wore Queen Mary’s Lover’s Knot Tiara with a yellow Elie Saab gown — only her second tiara appearance of 2026 — while Camilla wore the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara, Just Jared reported.

Sources: People; Page Six; The Independent; BBC reporting via TBS News; The Times via Royally Inspired; PA; Just Jared; Zot News.