Guest lists for White House state dinners have always been political rather than social documents. Avidly chewed over in Washington, they broadcast an administration’s priorities, favoured businesses, top donors and media allies. They are supposed to reflect the country being honoured.
By those standards, the Trump guest list for the state dinner for British king Charles III and queen Camilla on Tuesday night was another whack at norms in an administration that likes to shatter them.
Among the more than 100 guests were at least 10 US billionaires, six Fox News hosts, one Fox News executive, six conservative Supreme Court justices, numerous Silicon Valley tech titans and assorted friends of the president’s.
There were no British cultural figures and, for that matter, a meagre number of British overall. The British embassy in Washington appears to have had limited input into the guest list.
US president Donald Trump welcomes King Charles to a state dinner in the east room of the White House in Washington on Tuesday. Photograph: Kenny Holston/The New York Times
There were also no Democratic politicians, which has been the case at other Trump state dinners.
Previous White House social secretaries took note.
“There’s no attempt to reach out to the other side,” said Gahl Hodges Burt, who was the White House social secretary for three years in the Reagan administration. “There are no clergy, there are no minority group representatives, there are no medical researchers, there are no vaccine developers. And I would have had the astronauts who just came back.”
Nevertheless, she said, “It’s an impressive group. And a group you would expect.”
It is unclear who put together the guest list, which is typically overseen by the White House social secretary, along with heavy input from the West Wing, the White House political operation and the White House liaison to Congress. Melania Trump, the first lady, has had no social secretary in her husband’s second term.
On Wednesday, her press secretary, Nick Clemens, declined to comment on the guest list or how it was put together.
Jeremy Bernard, who was a White House social secretary in the Obama administration, said his goal was to have the guest lists reflect America. “It doesn’t seem like there was any attempt to make this look like something of the US overall,” he said of the Trump list. “It’s more reflective of the US right wing.”
In Trump’s first term, he said, he would speak to the social secretary at the time, Anna Cristina Niceta Lloyd. “She would call me and say, ‘Hey, we’re having a dinner in the Rose Garden. Tell me about the dinner you had in the Rose Garden.’ And I’d tell her about the lighting company. We shared stuff. There is no such person now.”
Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, looks down a line of attendees during the state dinner. Photograph: Kenny Holston/The New York Times
US supreme court associate justice Brett Kavanaugh and others at the state dinner. Photograph: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images
Most of the British guests on the list were members of the official party travelling from London, among them Clive Alderton, the principal private secretary to the king and queen, and Tobyn Andreae, the communications director of the royal household. The other British guests included Harry Lopes, Camilla’s son-in-law, and Otis Irwin, her grandnephew.
Also included were Keith Poole, the British tabloid veteran who is now editor-in-chief of The New York Post; Ruth Porat, the British American president and chief investment officer of Alphabet and Google; and Rory McIlroy, the Northern Irish golfer who just won his second Masters.
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Tina Brown, the British American journalist and the former editor of The New Yorker and Vanity Fair, who regularly shreds the Trump administration in her “Fresh Hell” Substack column (and who, needless to say, was not included on the guest list), called the document “absolutely classic.” In other words, she said, “it’s the cronies, the money, the conservative Supreme Court justices.” She mused that English actress Helen Mirren and English historian Simon Schama would have been good to include.
Michael LaRosa, who was the press secretary to Jill Biden, the former first lady, was of the view that Democratic White Houses were no different from the current one in their partisanship. “Obama invited liberal journalists and opinion writers, and we invited the whole MSNBC crowd and Nancy Pelosi and her daughter,” said LaRosa, who now works for Ballard Partners, a lobbying firm run by a top Trump fundraiser.
The guest list for the dinner for the king and queen, he said, “didn’t strike me as unusual. It struck me as par for the course. I always think of these things in terms of internal politics. What donor do we need to prime for the next cycle? Who is not getting tender love and care?”
Notable names on the Trump guest list included David Ellison, the CEO of Paramount; Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon; Steve Schwarzman, the CEO of the Blackstone Group; and Meg O’Neill, the CEO of BP.
At a 2007 state dinner for queen Elizabeth II and prince Philip during the George W Bush administration, guests included Nancy Pelosi of California, then the speaker of the House; Robin Roberts of ABC; and British historian Martin Gilbert.
A dinner menu on a table at the state dinner. Spring-herbed ravioli and Dover sole meunière were among the dishes. Photograph: Kenny Holston/The New York Times
Full guest list
More than 100 guests were invited to the state dinner that Trump hosted for king Charles and queen Camilla on Tuesday night. Here is the entire list of invitees provided by the White House:
- US president Trump and Melania Trump, the first lady
- British king Charles and queen Camilla
- Clive Alderton, principal private secretary to the king and queen
- Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Martha-Ann Alito
- Tobyn Andreae, director of communications of the royal household
- Marc Andreessen, venture capitalist, and Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen
- Bret Baier, Fox News host, and Amy Baier
- Senator John Barrasso, Republican of Wyoming
- Maria Bartiromo, Fox Business host, and Jonathan Steinberg
- Marc Benioff, Salesforce chief executive, and Lynne Benioff
- Treasury secretary Scott Bessent and John Freeman
- Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder, and Lauren Sánchez Bezos
- James Blair, Trump adviser, and Samantha Blair
- Senay Bulbul, minister counselor, British embassy in Washington
- Interior secretary Doug Burgum and Kathryn Burgum
- Gen Dan Caine, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff
- Varun Chandra, prime minister’s chief business, investment and trade adviser
- Justice Amy Coney Barrett and Jesse Barrett
- Tim Cook, Apple chief executive
- Yvette Cooper, secretary of state for foreign, commonwealth and development affairs
- Senator Steve Daines, Republican of Montana
- Sophie Densham, the queen’s private secretary
- Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Rachel Campos-Duffy
- Ainsley Earhardt, Fox News host
- David Ellison, chief executive of Paramount
- Pepe Fanjul, businessman, and Emilia Fanjul
- Edward C. Forst, General Services Administration administrator
- Justice Neil M. Gorsuch and Marie Louise Gorsuch
- Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina
- Jamieson Greer, U.S. trade representative, and Marlo Greer
- Greg Gutfeld, Fox News host, and Elena Mussa
- Beau Harrison, White House aide, and Hayley Harrison
- Defence secretary Pete Hegseth and Jennifer Hegseth
- Jensen Huang, chief executive of Nvidia, and Lori Huang
- Caroline Hurndall, principal private secretary to the foreign secretary
- Laura Ingraham, Fox News host
- Otis Irwin
- Speaker Mike Johnson and Kelly Johnson
- Tham Kannalikham, interior designer
- Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh and Ashley Kavanaugh
- Howard Kessler, entrepreneur, and Michele Kessler
- Viktor Knavs, father of Melania Trump
- Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots, and Dana Kraft
- Harry Lopes
- Juan Luciano, chief executive, Archer Daniels Midland
- Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Allison Lutnick
- Rory McIlroy, professional golfer, and Erica Stoll
- Stephen Miller, adviser to the president, and Katie Miller
- Brendan Nelson, president of Boeing Global
- Meg O’Neill, chief executive of BP
- John Paulson, hedge fund manager, and Alina de Almeida
- Isaac Perlmutter, former chief executive of Marvel Entertainment, and Laura Perlmutter
- Hervé Pierre, fashion designer
- Keith Poole, editor in chief of The New York Post
- Ruth Porat, president and chief investment officer of Alphabet and Google
- Dina Powell McCormick, president and vice chairman of Meta, and Senator Dave McCormick, Republican of Pennsylvania
- Anthony Pratt, chairman of Visy/Pratt Industries, and Claudine Revere, founder of Relish Catering + Hospitality
- Adam Riddle
- Senator Jim Risch, Republican of Idaho, and Vicki Risch
- Don Robert, chairman of the London Stock Exchange Group
- Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Jane Roberts
- John F. W. Rogers, executive vice president of Goldman Sachs
- James Roscoe, deputy head of mission, British Embassy
- US secretary of state Marco Rubio and Jeanette Rubio
- Christopher Ruddy, chief executive of Newsmax Media
- Theo Rycroft, deputy private secretary to the king
- Dan Scavino, White House deputy chief of staff, and Erin Scavino
- Steve Schwarzman, chief executive of the Blackstone Group, and Christine Schwarzman
- Suzanne Scott, chief executive of Fox News Media
- Brian Sikes, chief executive of Cargill
- Warren Stephens, US ambassador to Britain, and Harriet Stephens
- Justice Clarence Thomas and Virginia Thomas
- Lt Col Jonny Thompson, senior equerry to the king
- Senator John Thune, Republican of South Dakota and the majority leader, and Kimberley Thune
- Eric Trump and Lara Trump
- Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner
- Tiffany Trump and Michael Boulos
- Christian Turner, British ambassador to the United States, and Claire Turner
- US vice president JD Vance and Usha Vance, the second lady
- C.S. Venkatakrishnan, chief executive of Barclays
- Jesse Watters, Fox News host, and Emma Watters
- Steve Witkoff, special envoy to the Middle East, and Lauren Olaya
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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