The Royal couple will play a prominent role in the state visit – their popularity in the US makes them attractive allies for the President
The Prince and Princess of Wales face their biggest diplomatic challenge yet on a royal charm offensive to entertain Donald Trump and First Lady Melania this week.
For years those around Prince William have talked up his growing role as a statesman and how the glamour and soft power of his and Kate’s royal roles gives them the platform to bring people together to resolve problems and project Britain’s worldview.
Now comes a real test, as those involved in planning an unprecedented second state visit for a US president give them a vital role to play in charming the volatile Trump, who is in awe of the Royal Family but potentially at odds with the UK over issues ranging from Russian aggression in Europe to addressing climate change.
“This is about strengthening the ties between our two countries. The involvement of the Royal Family and all of the pomp and ceremony that goes with it, which frankly Britain does better than anyone else, is certainly a key part of the state visit for the President,” one US diplomatic source said in the build-up to the two-day visit, which begins at Windsor.
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The Trumps are said to be “thrilled” that William and Kate are playing such a big part in the visit, officially welcoming them to Windsor Castle, then accompanying them and the King and Queen – if Camilla has recovered from sinusitis – on a carriage procession through the castle’s Home Park.
The Prince and Princess are expected to be part of the royal party entertaining their guests to lunch and, although Kate’s attendance at a glittering, white-tie state banquet on Wednesday evening is not yet confirmed, she is tipped to attend and sit close to the President.
Then on Thursday, after the Queen has shown Melania Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House and the royal library in the castle, Kate will take the First Lady to meet Scouts learning about nature in nearby Frogmore Gardens.
Trump remains good friends with King Charles, after first meeting him in 1985 and maintaining regular letters between them for many years. But some sense that the Prince and Princess of Wales are perhaps a bigger prize for the President and the White House because of their greater popularity among the US public.
Trump keeps a keen eye on polling, and William enjoys huge approval ratings across the Atlantic, with a 53 per cent net positivity rating (63 per cent positive, 10 per cent negative), which makes him the most popular living royal.
Americans also hold a favourable view of the Princess of Wales (49 per cent positive, 6 per cent negative). The King is held in lower esteem (48 per cent positive, 27 per cent negative).
William and Kate entertained the Obamas at Kensington Palace in 2016 (Photo: Dominic Lipinski/WPA Pool/Getty)
It is by no means the couple’s first brush with the Trumps or US presidents. In April 2016, they entertained the Obamas to dinner at their Kensington Palace apartment, letting the then two-year-old Prince George in his dressing gown stay up to meet the couple.
William met Joe Biden in Boston in 2022 and also at the G7 summit in Carbis Bay, Cornwall, in June 2021, when Kate visited a school with First Lady Jill Biden, and was interrogated on the royal rift with Harry and Meghan by the White House press corps. And they met the Trumps on the couple’s first state visit here in 2019.
But this time the stakes seem higher, with the US President threatening to break up the established order and Keir Starmer anxious to persuade him to stay close to Britain and Europe’s positions on the biggest challenges facing the world. The royals will have been briefed in detail on Britain’s objectives.
Those close to William and Kate point to the groundwork already done by William when he met then president-elect Trump after the reopening of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris last December.
A royal source noted: “Many commentators have said that the Prince of Wales’s meeting with President Trump in December firmly cemented his role as a global statesman.”
Trump was gushing. “We had a great talk for half an hour, a little more than half an hour,” he said the day afterwards. “He looked really, very handsome last night. Some people look better in person. He looked great.”
Security measures are stepped up to the highest level in Windsor, ahead of the state visit (Photo: Muhammed Yaylali/Anadolu)
His fascination with the royals stems from his Scottish mother and, according to those who have followed his life closely, the idea that being feted by them is confirmation of his accomplishments. He has recounted on numerous occasions how his mother would be glued to the television if Queen Elizabeth was on.
In 2018 he described to Piers Morgan his feelings when meeting the then Queen. “I was walking up and I was thinking, ‘Can you imagine my mother seeing the scene.’”
His British-born former adviser Fiona Hill wrote in her 2021 political memoir There is Nothing for you Here: “A meeting with the Queen of England was the ultimate sign that he, Trump, had made it in life.”
Not that the US President has always been so respectful about William’s family members. He has previously confessed he would have slept with Diana “without hesitation” and regretted not courting her.
In 2012 he insisted Kate had “only herself to blame” after a French magazine published photographs of her sunbathing topless. “Who wouldn’t take Kate’s picture and make lots of money if she does the nude sunbathing thing. Come on Kate!” he tweeted.
Trump and Melania prepare to board Air Force One on Tuesday (Photo: AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
But William, who like his father, has strong views on the need to combat climate change, conserve nature, and achieve a just peace settlement in the Middle East, may also see the advantage of being able to lobby the world’s most powerful man this week, even if his views – like Charles’s – are often diametrically opposed to those of Trump.
He and Kate are also keen to maintain their profile in the US – where they have tapped into the wealth of philanthropists such as Bill Gates and Michael Bloomberg to help fund their charity projects, but would always welcome more support from some of the tech billionaires backing Trump.
The distinguished American royal biographer Sally Bedell-Smith sees William and Kate’s role this week as a sign of their growing importance. “Trump met William and Catherine at the state banquet during his first state visit in 2019 but now they have additional prominence because the world increasingly sees them as the future King and Queen,” she said.
Hugo Vickers, the royal historian, said the Trumps would be impressed by having William and Kate to escort them.
“US presidents don’t normally get carriage processions for security reasons,” he said. “I think they are pulling out all the stops to charm Donald Trump before handing him over to Keir Starmer at Chequers for the political part of the visit.”