It looked on television as though the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques was receiving the Queen in his own desert kingdom, rather than the other way round. The formalities were conducted in what appeared to be a grand Beduin tent surrounded by a haze of fine sand.

The reality was somewhat different, despite sunshine of almost Middle Eastern strength. The tent is in fact a mobile plywood pavilion that is wheeled out for all state visits, and because it has not rained much this month the gravel of Horse Guards Parade was rather dusty.

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia arrived on Monday, but he had to wait until just after midday yesterday to be received formally on the first Saudi state visit to Britain since 1987.

Protocol is particular in these matters: all state guests must be treated equally. The only undue favour accorded to King Abdullah was that he was met at Heathrow, and escorted from the front door of the Dorchester Hotel, by the Prince of Wales – duties usually delegated to a minor royal.

He arrived, with numerous members of his considerable entourage, in a Bentley lent to him by the Queen. He is an elderly man of 83, and was helped from the car by his interpreter, and guided up three steps to the pavilion to exchange prolonged handshakes with the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, who, despite being three years older and said to be not in the best of health, looked sprightly.

The King was introduced to the standard welcoming party, who resemble the cast of a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta: the lord mayors of London and Westminster (the latter currently a lady) in their gold-trimmed gowns and tricorn hats, the Master of the Horse in elaborate headgear adorned with white feathers, and Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, in a chocolate trouser suit with cream piping.

In such colourful company Gordon Brown looked dour in a dark suit and mauve tie. He made up for it later when he donned his new £3,000 tax-payer-funded white tie and tails for the banquet at Buckingham Palace.

In front of the King a guard of honour of the Welsh Guards and the Household Cavalry was drawn up on the square; the Guards band played stirring patriotic tunes such as the themes from Indiana Jones and Star Wars. As the King stepped out of his car they switched to the – mercifully short – Saudi national anthem as the green and white Saudi flag was unfurled atop Horse Guards alongside the Royal Standard.

Major Ben Ramsay, commanding the guard of honour, stepped forward and in fluent – so we believe – Arabic invited the King to inspect the Guardsmen. It is another Palace touch; state visitors whose mother tongue is not English are always issued with the invitation in their own language.

It all took ten minutes, the standard time for a formal arrival. The King, accompanied by his interpreter, climbed into the Australian State Coach with the Queen for the ride down The Mall to lunch at the Palace. His retinue followed in coaches and open landaus.

After lunch the Queen took the King on a tour of a small exhibition of Saudi-related items from the Royal Collection, including a 15th-century Egyptian copy of the Koran, and photographs of the Queen’s racehorses, which have Saudi ancestry.

At last night’s banquet the Saudis were served venison prepared to halal rules. The Muslim visitors were offered soft drinks, but the hostess ensured that her boozy Christian subjects present were well supplied with Puligny-Montrachet and Bollinger.

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