Visit by Richard Luce, Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, to Saudi Arabia, March 1985

This file concerns the preparations for the visit of Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Richard Luce to Saudi Arabia in March 1985. It contains memoranda and correspondence concerning:

• The timing of the visit and whether King Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud will stop over in London on his return journey from the US
• The issues to raise during the visit, including consular visits to prisons and the dispute concerning the school leaving age at the British section of the Saudi Arabian International School in Jedda [Jeddah]
• The question of including Jeddah in Luce’s itinerary
• A personal message from Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to King Fahd
• Briefing material and personality notes
• The relocation of the British Embassy from Jeddah to Riyadh
• The recommendation for Luce to discuss the cases of John Smith and Donald Hagger, who are imprisoned in Iraq, with Foreign Minister Prince Saud Bin Faisal Al Saud
• Briefing for an ad hoc meeting of the International Energy Agency group on international relations.

The file also concerns Luce’s visit to Abu Dhabi to attend a meeting of the UK-UAE Joint Committee