Officials are evaluating whether the incident will require any changes to be made to the schedule of the state visit, which starts on Monday.
A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said in a statement: “His Majesty is being kept fully informed of developments and is greatly relieved to hear that the President, First Lady and all guests have been unharmed. As you would expect, a number of discussions will be taking place throughout the day to discuss with US colleagues and our respective teams to what degree the events of Saturday evening may or may not impact on the operational planning for the Visit.”
It is understood that the King and Queen reached out privately to the President and First Lady to express their sympathies with all those affected on the night and their gratitude to the security services who prevented further injury.
The annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner was plunged into chaos last night as the Secret Service rushed the President and other officials to safety after shots were fired inside the ballroom.
President Trump, who has been the target of an assassination attempt before, was swiftly evacuated by Secret Service agents along with other senior members of the administration.
One officer who was shot but protected by his bulletproof vest was taken to hospital.
The suspect, said to have been carrying a shotgun and handgun, has b,een identified as Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, California. He is understood to have been a guest in the Washington Hilton hotel where the dinner was being held.
Sir Keir Starmer has sent a message of solidarity to Mr Trump after the incident, Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister Darren Jones told Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips on Sky News.
He said: “These are remarkable scenes. The Prime Minister has, this morning, sent a message to the president of the United States in solidarity for the events that took place. As you would imagine, with the visit of His Majesty the King this week, our teams are working closely to ensure that security arrangements are put appropriately in place.”
Asked if there are any extra concerns for the King’s safety during the state visit that begins on Monday, Mr Jones said: “As you would imagine, the Government and the Palace take the security of His Majesty very seriously, and there were already extensive discussions taking place, which will continue over the coming days.”
Mr Jones told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme that discussions on the King’s security during his visit to the United States would take place on Sunday.
Asked if that meant there would be any escalation on what had already been planned, he said: “There’ll be appropriate security in place in relation to the risk.”
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.express.co.uk ’
