President Trump has said he will travel to Britain in September at the invitation of his “friend” the King.
“I was invited by the King and the great country … It is beautiful,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday.
“It is the second time is has happened to one person. The reason is we have two separate terms and it’s an honour to be a friend of King Charles and the family, William.
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“I think they are setting a date for September.
“I don’t know how it can be bigger than the last one. The last one was incredible but they say the next one will be even more important.”
The King offered Trump an “unprecedented” second state visit in February, conveyed with a letter hand-delivered by Sir Keir Starmer during his first meeting with the newly-inaugurated president in Washington.
Starmer hands Trump the letter from the King in the Oval Office
KEVIN LAMARQUE/REUTERS
In what appeared to be a warm and lengthy letter, which Trump showed to the cameras, the King appeared to invite the president over for two separate visits.
The first, the King suggested, could be a more informal trip to either Balmoral Castle or Dumfries House in Scotland, during which they could discuss the finer points of a full state visit. The King wrote that this might coincide with one of Trump’s trips to his Turnberry golf course on the west coast of Scotland.
Trump was charmed by the military ceremony he experienced with Queen Elizabeth
TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER RICHARD POHLE
Trump is reported to have signalled his approval for a visit to Windsor Castle, where he once had an audience with Queen Elizabeth. The Telegraph reported that officials have been told Trump would prefer a grander stage for the visit than the relative privacy of the King’s Scottish residences.
It is understood that nothing has yet been finalised.
Trump’s previous state visit to the UK during his first term as US president had a military theme. He joined the late Queen in June 2019 to attend the 75th anniversary of D-Day and Charles entertained the Republican leader at a dinner at Winfield House, the residence of the US ambassador.
In his letter, the King wrote that he remembered the president’s previous visits “with great fondness” and also touched on “the breadth of challenges across the world” and “the values which matter so much to us all”.