The Modern Revival of Royal Diplomacy

Abstract

It is important to note that state visits overseas were not a modern phenomenon: diplomacy evolved out of visits between royals or their representatives. The modern concept of the summit meeting was, in the historical past, encapsulated in the royal visits exchanged between sovereigns. As the concept of the state emerged, royal visits became merged into something that was more than a personal power-play, and the terminology of the state visit began to emerge. From the start, such royal exchanges were integral to a ruler’s role in safeguarding the lands over which they claimed suzerainty, through the making and sustaining of alliances of offence and defence. Consequently, at times of turmoil such as the Middle Ages, there are many examples of rulers undertaking personal journeys in order to conduct diplomacy face-to-face, as when Richard I of England visited the French King to secure his goodwill so that Richard could securely leave Europe for his Crusade to the Holy Land.¹ Public display of royal might and power was not automatically a core element in these visits, though undoubtedly ritual and ceremonial within the royal courts, by both hosts and visitors, would have been an important aspect of the power negotiations. It was during the early modern period, the supposed golden age of European kingship that succeeded the age of Christendom, that a more public dimension to royal displays became significant.