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President Trump is making a second state visit to the United Kingdom this week. That is unusual. And it’s a special honor for Trump, who has often talked about how much he admires the royal family. NPR White House correspondent Danielle Kurtzleben has this report.
DANIELLE KURTZLEBEN, BYLINE: When British Prime Minister Keir Starmer visited the White House in February, he came with a special message for Trump from the king.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Very importantly, I was just notified by letter from King Charles that he’s extended through the prime minister a historic second state visit to the United Kingdom. And that’s a great honor because it’s never happened before.
KURTZLEBEN: Trump likes doing unprecedented things, and he likes spectacle, but he also has a long fascination with the British royal family. Part of it has to do with his mother. In July, he talked to journalist Miranda Devine on her podcast.
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TRUMP: She was a big fan of the queen, I have to tell you. And any time the queen was on television, my mother liked watching and said, oh, the queen’s on.
KURTZLEBEN: When Trump got to meet the queen in his first term, he felt a sense of awe, as he told journalist Piers Morgan in 2018.
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TRUMP: I was walking up and I was saying, can you imagine my mother seeing this scene? Windsor Castle. And it was beautiful. It was really beautiful. But the queen is terrific.
PIERS MORGAN: So what did you make of the queen? You’re probably the two most famous people on the planet.
TRUMP: Yeah. She is so sharp, so wise, so beautiful.
KURTZLEBEN: Trump’s not the only president who has enjoyed these visits, says Nicole Hemmer, a professor of history at Vanderbilt University.
NICOLE HEMMER: These state visits have been, I think, a highlight for many presidents precisely because of the special relationship between the United States and the U.K., particularly the visits with the royal family. Like, being part of that pomp and circumstance that come along with being around royalty.
KURTZLEBEN: Trump’s attention on the royals has gone beyond glitz, though. He was enamored with Princess Diana. In his 1997 book “The Art Of The Comeback,” Trump wrote, quote, I only have one regret in the women department – that I never had the opportunity to court Lady Diana Spencer. And he also has weighed in on recent royal family drama, saying that he thought Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, were disrespectful to the late queen. If Trump is more fixated on the royals than past presidents, to Hemmer, there’s a connection to how Trump views the presidency.
HEMMER: Trump himself has praised monarchical government and in fact shared pictures online of himself imagined as a king, which is something that previous presidents have been very careful not to do precisely because the U.S. was born in revolution against monarchy.
KURTZLEBEN: In 2023, Trump had this to say to Nigel Farage, a prominent right-wing British parliamentarian, on his news show just ahead of King Charles’s coronation.
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TRUMP: I think it’s a very important event. I think it’s a great thing. A lot of people talk about the monarchy. Should you have it, should you not? I think it’s a fantastic thing. It holds your country together, largely.
KURTZLEBEN: Trump isn’t popular in the U.K., and in 2019, his visit was greeted by massive protests. But Evie Aspinall, director of the British Foreign Policy Group, a London-based think tank, says the British government is hoping the visit helps nudge Trump toward greater support for Ukraine against Russia.
EVIE ASPINALL: It seems almost crude, but it’s almost exactly that. The U.K. knows that its leverage and its soft power when it comes to Trump comes through the royal family. He has a long affiliation and a kind of affinity to the royal family. And so leveraging that for the U.K.’s benefit is seen as kind of a sensible diplomatic move.
KURTZLEBEN: Trump and the first lady will meet on Wednesday with Prince William and Princess Catherine, as well as the king and queen, in a visit scheduled to include a carriage procession, military bands and a state banquet at Windsor Castle. On Thursday, he will meet with Prime Minister Starmer to get into the main issues between the two countries.
Danielle Kurtzleben, NPR News.
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