No one tell Donald Trump but the next State Banquet at Windsor Castle is set to be the most glittering of the year.
King Charles and Queen Camilla will welcome the President of Germany, Franz-Walter Steinmeier, to the castle for a State Visit on December 3 and that evening, they will walk into St. George’s Hall looking at its finest.
For King Charles has put the Christmas tree up in this most famous royal room.
It’s a rather appropriate decoration for the German State Visit as it was Charles III’s great, great, great, great, great grandmother who introduced the Christmas tree to England from her native Germany.
Charlotte of Mecklenberg-Strelitz is the first royal known to have brought a fir tree into her home in England and decorated it for the season. Far more famously, her granddaughter, Queen Victoria, became a fan of the Christmas tree and her family’s devotion to the tradition helped to make it so popular across England that it soon became an established tradition.
Both Victoria and Charlotte would be impressed with the efforts of King Charles and Queen Camilla this time round. The main Christmas tree in Windsor is a 20 foot tall Nordmann fir that didn’t have far to travel as it was grown in Windsor Great Park.
It’s been decorated with over 3,000 lights and baubles in green and gold.
The President of Germany will also be surrounded by festive garlands as he sits down to his State Dinner. The strings of foliage and flowers have been looped from the balconies around the room.
During his stay at Windsor, President Steinmeier might also get a chance to see some of the other Christmas decorations now up at the castle. The Crimson Drawing Room has been filled with another tree, this one a mere 16 feet tall, and covered in more bright baubles.
There are also beautiful garlands hanging in the Great Staircase which is one of the first parts of the castle that visitors see.
Not all the decorations are big and bold. Christmas has also come to Queen Mary’s Doll’s House where a tree measuring just 45cm has taken up residence along with more garlands.
Once the German State Visit is over, Windsor Castle will reopen to visitors with admission on Thursday to Monday and the decorations up until January 5 2026.
