I agree with all that you wrote and I have a few other things that I've thought of. Charles spoke German. I have often thought that it's embarrassing when Royals visit a country and make a joke of not being able to speak the language. Learn to speak and understand some phrases that you will hear on walkabout--heavens Poor King George had to overcome a stammer!--speak them with confidence and then let it go. Although I grew up in Quebec French is my second language and after living in the US I've lost a lot of my fluency. But I keep up with it daily on Duolingo and I have also added Spanish because so many people here speak Spanish. I don't pretend to be fluent but people really appreciate the effort. So that's first.
Second, Charles' visit was very simple. Just a couple of places, one big dinner, one huge speech. I think that should be the model for state visits. No jumping from island to island, loads of old-fashioned ceremonies, inspecting military. I understand that the relationship with the Commonwealth has a military history to it. But that caused some issues for W & C in the Caribbean. Maybe it's time to step back on the "military history" and emphasize the future. As Charles did. There was a guard of honor at the Brandenburg Gate but that was it. Very low key and I think that Charles was in ordinary dress. Keep the military stuff in the UK IMO.
I understand that scaling back could mean that the RF wouldn't physically touch every single Commonwealth nation or every city in the nations they do visit--too many backs and forths, carbon footprints and dangers of traveling, etc. But maybe that's not necessary anymore. COVID taught us that things CAN be done on Zoom. Make visits less perfunctory and more relevant. Like William's visit to Poland. It wasn't a state visit but boy did it make a difference! QE 2 said that the RF has to be seen to be believed. In this day of social media and streaming, "seeing" can be as much electronically as in real life if not more. Make the actual physical seeing relevant, focused and make sure there are lots of cameras there. And people who are prepared to report positively too :)
I agree with all that you wrote and I have a few other things that I've thought of. Charles spoke German. I have often thought that it's embarrassing when Royals visit a country and make a joke of not being able to speak the language. Learn to speak and understand some phrases that you will hear on walkabout--heavens Poor King George had to overcome a stammer!--speak them with confidence and then let it go. Although I grew up in Quebec French is my second language and after living in the US I've lost a lot of my fluency. But I keep up with it daily on Duolingo and I have also added Spanish because so many people here speak Spanish. I don't pretend to be fluent but people really appreciate the effort. So that's first.
Second, Charles' visit was very simple. Just a couple of places, one big dinner, one huge speech. I think that should be the model for state visits. No jumping from island to island, loads of old-fashioned ceremonies, inspecting military. I understand that the relationship with the Commonwealth has a military history to it. But that caused some issues for W & C in the Caribbean. Maybe it's time to step back on the "military history" and emphasize the future. As Charles did. There was a guard of honor at the Brandenburg Gate but that was it. Very low key and I think that Charles was in ordinary dress. Keep the military stuff in the UK IMO.
I understand that scaling back could mean that the RF wouldn't physically touch every single Commonwealth nation or every city in the nations they do visit--too many backs and forths, carbon footprints and dangers of traveling, etc. But maybe that's not necessary anymore. COVID taught us that things CAN be done on Zoom. Make visits less perfunctory and more relevant. Like William's visit to Poland. It wasn't a state visit but boy did it make a difference! QE 2 said that the RF has to be seen to be believed. In this day of social media and streaming, "seeing" can be as much electronically as in real life if not more. Make the actual physical seeing relevant, focused and make sure there are lots of cameras there. And people who are prepared to report positively too :)