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\n When President Donald Trump<\/a> arrives at Windsor Castle in a royal carriage Wednesday, heralded by three separate military bands and escorted by riders on horseback, his host \u2014 King Charles III<\/a> \u2014 will in some ways be repaying a nearly 37-year-old favor.\n <\/p>\n \n In 1988, the then-Prince of Wales was a guest for tea at Mar-a-Lago, Trump\u2019s own mansion in Palm Beach, Florida. The visit offered the real estate developer the royal imprimatur, even if Charles elected to spend the night at a horse ranch some distance away rather than sleep at Trump\u2019s club.\n <\/p>\n \n Long reverent of the British royal family, Trump\u2019s visit to the United Kingdom this week offers a similar opportunity: a stamp of validation, applied with honor guards and a state banquet, from some of the few people for whom he holds genuine and, to this point, unwavering respect.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI hate to say it, but nobody does it like you people in terms of the pomp and ceremony,\u201d Trump said in July during a visit to Scotland.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWindsor,\u201d he said on Sunday, \u201cis supposed to be amazing.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Acutely aware of the president\u2019s taste for royalty and ceremony, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer came to the White House armed with the invitation from Charles<\/a> in the first weeks of Trump\u2019s second presidency, hoping to use the royal connections to ease ties with a political opposite at a sensitive diplomatic moment.\n <\/p>\n \n Starmer was the second UK prime minister to execute the move. One of his predecessors, Theresa May, did virtually the same thing in the first few days of Trump\u2019s first term, though the state visit didn\u2019t materialize for another two years \u2014 and did little to endear the president to May, who stepped down three days after his visit concluded.\n <\/p>\n \n This week\u2019s trip \u2014 with a different prime minister, hosted by a different sovereign and convened at a different castle (Buckingham Palace is undergoing a multiyear renovation) \u2014 is a rarity. Typically, second-term US presidents aren\u2019t afforded the pomp of another state visit.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThis has never happened before; this is unprecedented,\u201d Starmer intoned in the Oval Office in February when he pulled out an envelope containing the written invitation from Charles.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cAm I supposed to read it right now?\u201d Trump asked, before silently reading the missive. Eventually, after some awkwardness, came his response: \u201cThe answer is yes.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Trump, who will be joined by first lady Melania Trump, arrives in the United Kingdom on Tuesday evening. But the pageantry really gets underway Wednesday, according to a schedule released by Buckingham Palace.\n <\/p>\n \n When Trump and the first lady arrive at the grounds of Windsor Castle, just outside London, they\u2019ll be greeted by the Prince and Princess of Wales \u2014 William and Catherine \u2014 who represent the future of the royal family.\n <\/p>\n \n When Trump last met Prince William in Paris in December at the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral<\/a>, he came away impressed. \u201cHe\u2019s a good-looking guy,\u201d the then-president-elect mused afterward. \u201cSome people look better in person? He looked great.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n From there, the Trumps will meet Charles and Queen Camilla as a royal salute is fired from Windsor Castle\u2019s lawn. They\u2019ll board their carriages and proceed through the Windsor estate toward the castle, with horses and riders alongside and the military bands lining the route.\n <\/p>\n \n After extensive troop inspections and lunch with the extended royal family, Trump and the first lady will spend some time in the Green Drawing Room looking at items from the royal collection. They\u2019ll lay a wreath at the tomb of Queen Elizabeth II in St. George\u2019s Chapel. And, in the evening, the centerpiece event: a state banquet at Windsor Castle.\n <\/p>\n \n The fanfare will also be extended to Melania Trump<\/a>, who will join Camilla for a tour of Queen Mary\u2019s Dolls\u2019 House and the Royal Library at Windsor Castle, followed by a scouting event on the castle\u2019s grounds with Kate on Thursday. The rare deployment of the princess and her considerable star power underscores the broader diplomatic effort by the United Kingdom to cultivate close ties with the Trump administration.\n <\/p>\n Is it just pomp and circumstance?<\/p>\n \n Mostly. And any overt talk of politics will be verboten with the royals, who studiously avoid the subject.\n <\/p>\n \n Still, there will be a day of business on Thursday, when Trump will travel to Chequers \u2014 the prime minister\u2019s country house in Buckinghamshire \u2014 for talks with Starmer.\n <\/p>\n \n The two leaders are political opposites who have nonetheless managed to develop an outwardly friendly relationship. Their talks have avoided any of the acrimony that tends to color even some of Trump\u2019s better meetings with his counterparts.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWe\u2019ve become friends in a short period of time,\u201d Trump said during a meeting at the G7 summit in Canada this summer, adding, \u201cHe\u2019s slightly more liberal than I am.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n One of Starmer\u2019s chief objectives with Trump was striking a new trade deal, something he managed to accomplish quickly, even as other countries scrambled for weeks to negotiate plans to avoid sweeping tariffs.\n <\/p>\n \n But like many of Trump\u2019s announced trade deals, some of the finer details either aren\u2019t finalized or are still a matter of dispute. But some flesh was put on the bones when Starmer on Monday announced a US-UK nuclear energy agreement, which will make it easier for companies to build new power stations in both countries.\n <\/p>\n \n Starmer\u2019s close relationship with Trump has also so far failed to move the president closer to Europe\u2019s position on the war in Ukraine, despite hours of phone calls and meetings on the subject. Trump has stopped short of applying new sanctions on Russia amid pressure from Starmer and other European leaders to act.\n <\/p>\n \n Those topics will certainly arise Thursday, both in the two men\u2019s private discussions and later at a joint press conference. For Starmer, the hope could be that Trump \u2014 fresh from being feted by royalty \u2014 may not chafe at a little extra prodding.\n <\/p>\n \n One of Trump\u2019s earliest memories is watching his mother, the Scotland-born Mary Anne MacLeod Trump, sitting rapt in front of her television watching Queen Elizabeth II\u2019s coronation.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cFor Christ\u2019s sake, Mary, enough is enough, turn it off,\u201d his father Fred griped, according to Trump\u2019s book \u201cArt of the Deal.\u201d \u201cThey\u2019re all a bunch of con artists.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n In this respect, Trump took after his mother. She passed the love of royal spectacle onto her son, who has spent much of his adult life either admiring the Windsors from afar or attempting to cultivate them as friends.\n <\/p>\n \n His first state visit, in 2019, was a highlight of his first term.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cMeeting Queen Elizabeth II was particularly important to President Trump,\u201d Fiona Hill, an adviser in Trump\u2019s first term, wrote in her 2021 memoir. \u201cA meeting with the Queen of England was the ultimate sign that he, Trump, had made it in life.\u201d\n <\/p>\n ![\"Thames](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/2025-09-12t130424z-796308502-rc2bqga4l2zt-rtrmadp-3-usa-trump-britain.jpg\")
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