{"id":68180,"date":"2025-09-16T19:33:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T19:33:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/68180\/"},"modified":"2025-09-16T19:33:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T19:33:09","slug":"lots-of-royal-pageantry-but-no-speech-to-parliament-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/68180\/","title":{"rendered":"lots of royal pageantry but no speech to parliament \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

US president Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s second state visit to the UK, taking place this week, comes at a tricky time for British prime minister Keir Starmer<\/a>, who is facing growing discontent from his own MPs and is in the middle of preparations for what could be a make-or-break party conference speech.<\/p>\n

The UK government is hoping to wow the US president with a show of royal and military pageantry, while shielding him from protest and avoiding sensitive topics such as immigration<\/a>, free speech, Jeffrey Epstein<\/a> and Gaza<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But what will Trump be doing, and what can we expect from the visit? <\/p>\n

What is on the agenda?<\/b><\/p>\n

While Mr Trump and his wife, Melania, were scheduled to arrive on Air Force One on Tuesday night, the main focus of their visit will be Wednesday\u2019s events at Windsor Castle.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Drones, snipers and increased patrols: UK plans huge security operation for Trump visitOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

A ceremonial welcome with a guard of honour will greet them, followed by lunch with the royal family. Mr Trump will watch a fly-past by the Red Arrows, the aerobatics display team of the Royal Air Force, along with American F-35 military jets, and there will be a military event known as \u201cbeating retreat<\/a>\u201c, a colourful display of music and drill.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, the president will travel to Chequers, the official country residence of the British prime minister, where he will be greeted by Mr Starmer and his wife, Victoria. The two leaders are likely to address a news conference in the afternoon. Before that they are expected to visit the Winston Churchill archives at Chequers and to join a business reception.<\/p>\n

Ms Trump will remain at Windsor, where she will see Queen Mary\u2019s Dolls\u2019 House with Queen Camilla, and later join Catherine, Princess of Wales, at Frogmore Gardens<\/a> for an event with Britain\u2019s Scouts Association.<\/p>\n

\"PhotoPhoto from 2019 of King Charles and Queen Camilla, the then Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall, with US president Donald Trump and his wife Melania during Mr Trump’s first UK state visit. Photograph: Chris Jackson\/PA Wire <\/p>\n

Are any protests planned?<\/b><\/p>\n

Yes. On Tuesday, organisers have called on protesters to gather in Windsor\u2019s High Street, not far from the castle. For Wednesday, they have scheduled a demonstration in London culminating in a march to Parliament Square.<\/p>\n

The state visit has been designed to limit security risks, as well as minimising the opportunity for protesters to confront a president who is broadly unpopular with the British public. The carriage procession will take place inside the royal grounds at Windsor, and the formal agenda does not include events in central London.<\/p>\n

If there is a moment of tension, it is likely to come during the news conference on Thursday when issues such as Mr Trump\u2019s connection to the late Epstein, Mr Starmer\u2019s handling of the Peter Mandelson controversy<\/a> and the UK\u2019s planned recognition of Palestinian statehood are likely to be raised.<\/p>\n

Is there to be a parliamentary address?<\/b><\/p>\n

State visits may include a parliamentary element, usually a speech. Conveniently, the House of Commons is in recess during president Trump\u2019s visit, so he will not formally address MPs. <\/p>\n

\"PolicePolice officers patrol outside Windsor Castle ahead of US president Donald Trump’s state visit to the UK. Photograph: Jonathan Brady\/PA Wire <\/p>\n

Nonetheless, state visits can be an important geopolitical tool for the government of the day. Given Mr Trump\u2019s long-standing admiration for the royal family, many analysts view the invitation that Mr Starmer personally delivered to him in February as a potent diplomatic device that helped build their relationship.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Keir Starmer and Donald Trump looked ready to put a ring on it. No wonder Melania stayed at homeOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Britain\u2019s main foreign policy objective is to solidify support for Ukraine and to persuade Mr Trump to increase pressure on the Russian president, Vladimir Putin<\/a>, particularly following Russia\u2019s recent drone incursions into Nato airspace. <\/p>\n

Mr Starmer has been at pains not to criticise Mr Trump\u2019s stance on international issues, but Britain has diverged from US policy on the war in Gaza, promising to recognise a Palestinian state unless the Israeli government changes course. \u2013 The Guardian\/New York Times<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"US president Donald Trump\u2019s second state visit to the UK, taking place this week, comes at a tricky…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68181,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[9,10,356,13,14,3761,6,15098,5446,11,12,15,16,30888,5,7,8,384,2263,65,66,67],"class_list":{"0":"post-68180","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-donald-trump","11":"tag-featured-news","12":"tag-featurednews","13":"tag-gaza-strip","14":"tag-headlines","15":"tag-jeffrey-epstein","16":"tag-keir-starmer","17":"tag-latest-news","18":"tag-latestnews","19":"tag-main-news","20":"tag-mainnews","21":"tag-melania-trump","22":"tag-news","23":"tag-top-stories","24":"tag-topstories","25":"tag-united-states","26":"tag-vladimir-putin","27":"tag-world","28":"tag-world-news","29":"tag-worldnews"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68180\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}