The Royal Family is going to roll out the red carpet for the US President later this week with King Charles and Queen Camilla co-hosting his state visit, which kicks off on Wednesday, September 17 and will conclude on Friday, September 19, and it’s all thanks to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, says one royal expert.
Typically, when a US President serves a second term, they will be invited for tea or lunch by the Royal Family, but this time around, Trump was invited for a second state visit, which is unprecedented.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer hand-delivered the invitation to Trump during a White House visit over the summer with the US President accepting the invitation on the spot.
We asked royal expert Ian Pelham Turner if Trump earned the invite with him saying it’s more about the US than the actual individual and maintaining the special relationship between the UK and US.
Mr. Pelham Turner said: “I think that’s really the strongest thing at the moment, when Trump is over, that he’s going to get all the royal experiences, once more.”
We had the pleasure of joining the Mirror UK’s Jennifer Newton, Deputy Royal Editor, for the latest episode of Pod Save the King, which puts a spotlight on the forthcoming state visit.
During the episode, we chatted about how the invitation was extended and what to expect, and when it comes to the royals, we both agreed, you can expect the unexpected.
Newton shared her thoughts on Sir Keir hand-delivering the invitation to Trump, which she described as “theatrical,” and to us, it was the perfect way to describe the exchange in the Oval Office.
Newton said: “After what seems like a long time ago, that Keir Starmer, kind of theatrically handed over this letter to Donald Trump, in the Oval Office, invited him for an unprecedented second state visit to the UK, and I’m sure you’ve heard, he’s been referring to it as going to be ‘a fest’ — it’s finally happening.”
The royal editor also went over why the state visit is so important, in the eyes of Parliament and the British public:
“From the UK’s perspective, this state visit is really important, not just from the royal angle, if we look at it from the political angle, the US being one of the UK’s biggest allies, we want to have the US on side, we want to maintain what they call the special relationship and that’s really important for us in the UK.”
The Royal Family plays a huge role in courting world leaders, in which Newton explains:
“They are the soft power. If Keir Starmer wants to woo a country, what better way to do it than get on the phone, to the palace, and say, ‘Do you mind hosting whoever?’ whether it’s Donald Trump or another world leader.”
“I think that’s what Keir Starmer is wanting to do, he’s wanting to maintain this strong relationship with the US, and what better way to do it than draw on the people that he knows are going to wow Donald Trump, which is the Royal Family.”
In addition to how this came about, Newton went over what to look forward to:
“And obviously this state visit, it’s expected to be the same as many other state visits, it’s going to be at Windsor this time, we had the French state visit a few weeks ago, it will follow a similar format to that at Windsor.”
“We’ll have the big arrival, he will be greeted, there will be some sort of military parade, where he will be able to inspect the Guard of Honour, and then, the big, grand set piece moment of the state visit, which is the state banquet, which will be at Windsor Castle, and hopefully, all the senior members of the Royal Family will be there.”
No matter what, we can expect the unexpected, according to Newton:
“I think if there’s one thing that we’ve learned, in covering the royals, and covering what they do, we can expect the unexpected, and when you throw Donald Trump into the mix, it is definitely going to be exciting, and if that’s not the right word, it’s going to be… a spectacle.”
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.the-express.com ’
