Donald Trump was in his element.
Feted by the British royal family like no other president before him, he sat down next to King Charles for a state banquet at the ancient castle of Windsor.
The day had seen the US president honoured with a Red Arrow fly-past, a royal carriage ride, and a whole lot of flattery.
Conscious of the president’s love of the superlative, UK authorities had also let it be known that it really was the biggest and best of its kind, putting on what they described as the largest military ceremonial welcome for a state visit to Britain in living memory.
One hundred and twenty horses and 1,300 members of the military took part.
Donald and Melania Trump’s state visit was kicked off with plenty of pomp and ceremony. (Reuters: Chris Jackson/Pool)
It was also truly historic, with Trump becoming the first US leader to enjoy two state visits.
Then the monarch stood to address the guests, who included tech giants and the media mogul Rupert Murdoch.
“Mr President, from York to New York, from Birmingham, England to Birmingham, Alabama, we are united by a common language and shared heritage,” the king began in one section of his pre-prepared remarks.
So far, a little cliched perhaps, but uncontroversial.
Then things began to shift.
He lauded the two countries’ “closest defence, security and intelligence relationship ever known”, and referenced their alliance in two world wars.
“Today, as tyranny once again threatens Europe,” Charles said.
Trump’s head swivelled to look up at his host.
That was the point it became clear Charles wasn’t just serving up niceties.
Along with the Hampshire watercress panna cotta and organic Norfolk chicken ballotine was a rather pointed message to his guest.
“We and our allies stand together in support of Ukraine to deter aggression and secure peace.”
Then the body language got even more interesting.
Turning ever so slightly towards Trump, the king said, “And our AUKUS submarine partnership with Australia sets the benchmark for innovative and vital collaboration”.
Kaboom.
The king has a long tradition of putting his foot in it, but this was no blunder.
It was a carefully choreographed moment.
It was tiara diplomacy, as the Americans like to call it, at its best.
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The remarks on Ukraine come in the face of ongoing opposition among MAGA Republicans to America’s support of Kyiv, and just weeks after Trump hosted the Russian president on American soil.
Those on AUKUS come amid jitters about the future of the defence pact between Australia, the UK, and the US under the Trump presidency, and as a Pentagon review is undertaken.
AUKUS will certainly be high on Prime Minister Antony Albanese’s agenda if he does manage to secure a meeting with Trump when he travels to the US next week for a United Nations General Assembly.
If Trump were in the White House, or almost anywhere else, we might have seen him react to the comments.
When the US president stood to give his remarks at the lavish event, however, he uncharacteristically stuck to the script.
Trump basks in all the pomp and pageantry that comes with a royal visit.
He described it as a “singular privilege” to be the first American president to be granted a second state banquet.
The Brits know this, of course, and the king’s remarks throw a slightly different light on that moment in the Oval Office, when UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer reached into his breast pocket to deliver an invitation to the newly inaugurated 47th president for this very state visit.
Sir Keir Starmer gave Donald Trump an invitation from King Charles III for a second state visit in February. (Reuters: Carl Court/Pool)
“He knew in accepting this unprecedented invitation back in February that it would give him this great image that the world would see of him being accepted here in a way we’ve never seen before by the British monarch,” CBS News White House correspondent Ed O’Keefe told the ABC in Windsor.
“Thousands of troops, hundreds of horses, carriages that normally just carry the monarchs.
“He wants that.“
At the time the invitation was issued, it was easy to see the move as a blatant attempt to simply butter up Trump.
The king, it seemed, was determined to make sure it was a little more than that.
Make no mistake: the message he delivered would be in lock-step with the views of Downing Street, which would have been in close consultation about the speech.
The intervention in the AUKUS debate brought to mind his decision to address the Canadian parliament earlier this year.
The visit came at a time when Trump was frequently taunting his northern neighbour by calling it the 51st state.
Charles’s speech in Ottawa was widely seen as a show of support for the Commonwealth country, which he said he believed would remain “strong and free”, as it faced challenges “unprecedented in our lifetimes”.
The charm offensive from the royals continued with the after-dinner drinks at Windsor.
A vintage 1945 port in honour of Trump having been the 45th US president, a 1912 cognac, the year his mother was born on the Scottish island of Lewis, and a “Transatlantic Whisky Sour”, a rather sickly sounding combination of whisky, marmalade, and a s’more biscuit, an American campfire staple.
Trump doesn’t drink alcohol, so wouldn’t have imbibed any of these, but as he bedded down in his royal surroundings, he may have done so with a slightly bitter taste in his mouth.
A potentially fraught press conference with the embattled UK leader on Thursday, and the outcome of Albanese’s upcoming US visit, will test whether the not so soft royal diplomacy yields real-world results.
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‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.abc.net.au ’
