Council tells King Charles that State Visits are hurting it

King Charles and Queen Camilla have been told the glittering
show they plan to put on for the President of Nigeria’s State Visit
could be impacted after one set of officials said they would
provide ”only the basics” in a row about money.

The Royal Borough of Windsor and
Maidenhead, where Windsor Castle is located, said it had paid
out a six figure sum in 2025 to support State Visits and it
couldn’t afford to keep doing that without reimbursement from
central government.

Windsor Castle is now the setting for incoming State Visits as
Buckingham Palace is undergoing repair work to many of the areas
usually used for high level trips. In 2025,
King Charles and Queen Camilla hosted US President, Donald
Trump, at Windsor as well as Emmanuel Macron, President of France
and Franz Walter Steinmeier, President of Germany.the u

The costs to the Royal Borough of Windsor and
Maidenhead were put at around £350,000 for its support work
during the three visits.

The council told the BBC that ”while we appreciate the wider
impact this may have for our multi-agency partners, with planning
already under way for the visit in March by the president of
Nigeria, we don’t have a budget for this support.”

And it added ”local taxpayers can’t continue to be expected to
shoulder the burden of decisions made by government to host state
visits in Windsor.”

The deputy leader of the council, Lynne Jones, said it was time
that the government gave reassurances that costs will be
reimbursed. And she added that the council would only do ”the
basics” for the next State Visit which is set to get underway in
March when the President of Nigeria arrives in Windsor.

The issue has already been raised in the House of Commons by the
MP for Maidenhead, Joshua Reynolds, who asked when the costs
incurred by the council would be given back to it. He was told that
the bill has usually been picked up by a number of departments and
matters were currently under review.

State Visits are seen as a vital part of diplomacy with The
King, as Head of State, welcoming other Head of State on the advice
of the government. The focus of a State Visit is to improve
relations between the two countries involved and the nations
invited are chosen by the government, not the Monarch.

Work undertaken by the council for State Visits includes closing
roads and car parks to allow the traditional carriage procession to
take place and to facilitate security.

Ahead of the State Visit by German President, Franz Walter
Steinmeier, the council warned it couldn’t keep paying for work
involved in such trips.

Now, it says that the money it has spent in the past year could
have paid the salaries of nine primary school teachers and it has
again raised concerns that its residents are paying for the
event.