The Lord-Lieutenant is responsible for making all the arrangements for a Royal visit to Cornwall by a member of the Royal Family. The Lieutenancy Office makes all the necessary planning arrangements direct with the Royal Household, the host organisation and the Police to ensure the visit is a success and is enjoyed by everyone involved.
Guidance notes are available to help you plan for a royal visit, either by downloading from the link here.
A Royal Visit is a memorable occasion which honours the work and achievements of an organisation or community. It is an opportunity to celebrate and acknowledge the different ways in which people have been involved in either a special piece of work or occasion. These visits are an important part of the Royal Family’s role and are much valued by those organisations that are fortunate enough to receive such a visit. Many of the visits are connected to charities and other organisations with which members of the Royal Family are associated.
For further information about Members of the Royal Family and the charities or organisations they support, please go to the British Monarchy website. https://www.royal.uk/
Invitations to members of the Royal Family may be made in two ways.
If the invitation involves a visit to a new or refurbished building, it is vital that the work is fully completed and the building is in use before the Member of the Royal Family visits. Such invitations need to be for a date well after completion to ensure that everything is in place. This sometimes means that the Royal visit does not take place until sometime after the building or project has opened but that is quite usual.
All invitations received are very carefully considered. If you wish to invite a member of the Royal Family to an event taking place in Cornwall, the invitation needs to go out at least 6 months in advance; ideally, you should get in touch with the Lord-Lieutenant or the Lieutenancy Office with the proposal about a year ahead. In particular, if you want a Royal visit for a special occasion on a particular day then you will need to extend your invitation a year beforehand. If in doubt please contact the Lord-Lieutenant or Lieutenancy Office who will be happy to give advice on timings.
The King and other members of the royal family make at least 3,000 visits every year, with around 1,000 invitations sent to The King alone each year. If your invitation is refused – as many sadly must be – it will not be sent on automatically to another Member of the Royal Family. You may extend it yourself to another Member, even if the second invitee is more senior than the first, although discretion should be exercised in extending subsequent invitations. Again, it is sensible to consult the Lord-Lieutenant or Lieutenancy Office if you are considering this course of action.
Once an invitation has been accepted, the Royal Household concerned will tell the Lord-Lieutenant and the organisation to be visited, letting them know the date of the visit and other details. At this early stage of the proceedings, all details relating to the location and the visit are STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL and knowledge of the visit should minimised. The Lieutenancy Office will get in touch with you at this stage to discuss the visit, recces and other details. At some stage before the visit (normally only days or weeks before it is to happen), details of the visit will normally be included on the Royal website.
