
Trump was presented with an invitation from the King when Keir Starmer visited the White House in February (Picture: Carl Court/PA Wire)
On September 17,Donald Trump will land in the UK for his second state visit – just a little over six years since his first.
It’s widely described as unprecedented,and it certainly is for a US President. Just don’t tell Trump about the First World War-era French President Raymond Poincaré,who visited in 1913 and 1919.
In any case,this will be the first time a world leader has been granted the privilege of a second state visit in well over a century.
That raises a few questions – how similar will this trip be to the President’s first? How do you change it up to stop him getting bored?
There will,of course,be several differences. The obvious one is a different monarch – Trump was hosted by Queen Elizabeth six years ago,while King Charles will have the honour this time round.
Then there’s the choice of venue. The late Queen welcomed the President to Buckingham Palace,with his helicopter Marine One landing in the gardens in the early afternoon of June 3 2019.
Trump and Queen Elizabeth sharing a joke during the state banquet in 2019 (Picture: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire)The President and First Lady landed at Buckingham Palace on a mild summer’s day,and were greeted at their helicopter by Charles and Camilla,then the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall.Queen Elizabeth met them at the entrance to the Palace a couple of minutes later,ahead of a performance by the Grenadier Guards.That was the beginning of a pretty packed first day: a private lunch was followed by a look at items from the Royal Collection highlighting the relationship between the US and UK.Trump was then joined by Prince Andrew on a visit to Westminster Abbey,where he placed a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.That evening,the white-tie state banquet took place at Buckingham Palace.
The President will be hosted by King Charles this time (Picture: Reuters)The following day,June 4,was more political. Trump joined then-Prime Minister Theresa May at Downing Street,and the pair held a press conference – where the President memorably said the NHS would be ‘on the table’ as part of a future US-UK trade deal.On June 5,he travelled with the Queen and Prince of Wales to Portsmouth for an event marking the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings,then left to visit Ireland.
The blimp was given permission to fly before the state visit was even confirmed (Picture: PA)It all ended violently,though,when a Tommy Robinson supporter filmed herself slashing the blimp with a pair of scissors.Two years later,the inflatable became part of the Museum of London’s protest collection,alongside artefacts linked to the suffragettes and climate campaigners.It’s unclear if it will come out of retirement for this year’s visit.United News - unews.co.za