A key message from the UK government will be to encourage the United States to maintain its commitment to Nato and to support Ukraine and there will be a much bigger than usual military line-up for the state visit.<\/p>\n
There will be 1,300 service men and women, from the Army, Royal Navy and RAF taking part in the welcome, creating the largest ever guard of honour for a state visit to the UK.<\/p>\n
A joint US and UK flypast by F-35 jets and the Red Arrows will fly over Windsor, watched by Sir Keir Starmer alongside the president, in a display showing the closeness of the military relationship.<\/p>\n
The centrepiece of the state visit will be the spectacular banquet in St George’s Hall, where King Charles and President Trump will make speeches, with guests enjoying a menu that’s likely to be a culinary representation of the special relationship, with UK and US food.<\/p>\n
Along with the royal pageantry and photo-opportunities, there will be efforts to influence the US president over trade and international co-operation.<\/p>\n
State visits are a form of soft power diplomacy, using the royal charm offensive to build relations with important international partners – with none more important than the US.<\/p>\n
As the visit got underway, a major technology deal was announced with US tech firms investing \u00a331bn in the UK, including \u00a322bn from Microsoft<\/a>.<\/p>\n This will see co-operation in artificial intelligence, quantum computing and nuclear power, in a tech deal which Sir Keir Starmer hopes will begin “creating highly skilled jobs, putting more money in people’s pockets”.<\/p>\n Ahead of the visit, the owner of Google, Alphabet, announced a \u00a35bn ($6.8bn) investment in the UK’s artificial intelligence<\/a> research.<\/p>\n