Visits by members of the Royal Family originate in many ways. Here are just a few examples - this list is by no means comprehensive:

  • Photo of Prince Charles on a visit to Nottingham in February 2009. Invitations extended by individuals, organisations and companies to open buildings, launch projects, commemorate anniversaries etc.
  • Invitations extended by national bodies e.g. headquarters of charities of which a member of the Royal Family is a Patron, headquarters of organisations of which a member of the Royal Family is President etc.
  • Invitations received by the Lord-Lieutenant and submitted to a specific Royal Household, or the Buckingham Palace Co-ordination and Research Unit (which is involved with all of the Royal Households in the planning of visits).
  • Requests from Royal Households to Lord-Lieutenants for additional items to add to a planned visit programme.

In all cases of locally originated requests the Lord-Lieutenant should be consulted. He will need to be given a brief outline of the event and likely duration, the period during which the visit is desired (the longer period the better), and whether a visit by a particular member of the Royal Family is desired, and if so the reason or justification for this.

Such are the demands made on the Royal Family there can never be any certainty that a particular invitation will be able to be accepted.

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