King meets world business and finance figures at Buckingham Palace

The King has met business and finance leaders from across the world at a Buckingham Palace reception to mark the conclusion of the UK’s Global Investment Summit.

Charles was introduced by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to attendees from the summit including Stephen A Schwarzman from Blackstone, Jamie Dimon from JP Morgan Chase and Nissan’s Makoto Uchida.

In the Palace’s White Drawing Room, Charles also met Yasir Al-Rumayyan, who is governor of Saudi Arabia’s public wealth fund and chairman of Newcastle United, as well as Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, managing director of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.

Mr Sunak praised Microsoft’s “very good announcement today investing billions in building the infrastructure for AI here in the UK”, as he introduced Charles to Microsoft UK chief executive Clare Barclay.

Other business leaders who were introduced to Charles on Monday evening included Goldman Sachs’ David Solomon, Bank of America’s Bernard Mensah and Dame Anne Richards from Fidelity International.

The King during a reception at Buckingham Palace (Daniel Leal/PA)

Charles then met other financial leaders and chief executives at a reception in the Palace’s Picture Gallery, attended by senior Government ministers including Chancellor Jeremy Hunt and Home Secretary James Cleverly.

The reception came ahead of Charles’s attendance at the opening ceremony of the World Climate Action Summit at Cop28 in Dubai on Friday.

The Global Investment Summit was hosted by the UK Government at Hampton Court Palace earlier on Monday.

In a speech to open the summit, Mr Sunak highlighted the UK’s low rate of business taxation, despite official forecasts suggesting the overall tax burden will reach a post-Second World War high.

The Prime Minister said there was “positive momentum” behind the UK economy as around 200 chief executives gathered at Henry VIII’s former palace, with Mr Sunak rolling out the red carpet to global investors for the summit aimed at attracting funding and jobs to the UK.

Downing Street said leading investors had committed £29.5 billion in new UK projects and capital – triple the sum raised at the last Global Investment Summit in 2021.

No 10 said the investments had sealed the UK’s “reputation as one of the best places in the world to do business”.