A reception laden with red carpets, a hotel covered in gold and a fleet of luxury cars — such was the scene in Georgetown, Washington DC, upon the arrival of Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz, Daily Mail has reported.
For his three-night stay in the US capital, the 222-room hotel’s guests were forced to move to nearby luxury hotels. The hotel even made extra arrangements to suit the 79-year-old king’s tastes.
Gold furniture was rolled into the hotel, red carpets were laid down in the hallway as well as on the asphalt in the hotel’s parking, according to eyewitnesses.
“Everything is gold,” a hotel guest told the politico website. “Gold mirrors, gold end tables, gold lamps, even gold hat racks.”
King Salman’s delegation included Saudi diplomats as well as his own family and assistants. The king has a reputation for travelling with a huge entourage. Last month, King Salman and a 1,000-person entourage holidayed on the French Riviera; however, they were forced to cut short their trip after a petition from some 150,000 residents over the closure of a public beach outside his villa.
This is the King’s first visit to the United States since taking the throne, following the death of his half-brother King Abdullah. While many inferred King Salman’s absence from the Gulf summit at Camp David, as a diplomatic rebuke of Obama’s Iran strategy both governments have denied such analyses.
