Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, Queen Elizabeth II and Charles, Prince of Wales attend a state banquet at the Buckingham Palace in London. Yui Mok / Reuters

Queen Elizabeth II hosts Dutch king and queen at palace — in pictures



The Dutch king and queen on Tuesday began a state visit to Britain that will include full ceremonial honours and a gala banquet.

King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands were welcomed Tuesday morning by Queen Elizabeth II at the Royal Pavilion at Horse Guards in central London on a brisk fall day.

The king kissed Elizabeth on both cheeks and clasped her hands when they met. Maxima did the same when she greeted Elizabeth.

British Prime Minister Theresa May and several senior ministers also attended the welcome ceremony.

Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, the duchess of Cornwall, escorted the Dutch royals from the Dutch embassy to the parade grounds and took part in the horse-drawn carriage procession to Buckingham Palace.

The queen plans to host a state dinner for her guests at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday evening.

It is not clear if she will be joined by her husband Prince Philip, 97, who has largely retired from public life.

It is the third time the queen has hosted the Dutch royal family for a state visit. The most recent was in 1982.

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Will the pound fall to parity with the dollar?

The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.

Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.

New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.

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The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.

The BOE said in November that the currency could fall even below $1 in an analysis on possible worst-case Brexit scenarios. Options-based calculations showed around a 6.4 per cent chance of pound-dollar parity in the next one year, markedly higher than 0.2 per cent in early March when prospects of a no-deal outcome were seemingly off the table.

Bloomberg