U.S. President Donald Trump formally began his second state visit to the United Kingdom on Wednesday.
King Charles and the royal family will roll out the red carpet for the president when he arrives at Windsor Castle, the oldest and largest inhabited castle in the world and family home to British monarchs for almost 1,000 years, with a carriage procession, gun salutes, a military flypast and lavish banquet.
Britain says it will be the largest military ceremonial welcome for a state visit in living memory.
Trump, an overt royal fan, has made little secret of his delight at being not just the first U.S. leader but the first elected politician to be invited by a British monarch for two visits.
“I Love King Charles,” he posed on his Truth Social account in February. He added on arrival: “I have a lot of things here that … they warm my heart. It’s a very special place.”
Prime Minister Keir Starmer is hoping to use that sentiment to Britain’s advantage as his government seeks to use the trip to cement the two nations’ “special relationship”, deepen economic ties, secure billions of dollars of investment, discuss tariffs, and press the U.S. president on Ukraine.
While security for the visit will be tight, with a massive police operation in place in Windsor and 1,600 officers deployed in London to deal with a protest by the “Stop the Trump Coalition”, Trump’s arrival prompted a protest in Windsor.
Police said four people were arrested on Tuesday following a projection of images of Trump alongside late sex offender Epstein onto one of Windsor Castle’s towers.
Starmer last week sacked Peter Mandelson as UK ambassador in Washington over his ties to Epstein. The visit has already delivered a new technology pact between the two countries which will boost ties in AI, quantum computing and civil nuclear energy.
Microsoft has pledged 31 billion pounds ($42 billion) in UK investments.
Starmer will also be looking for further progress on tariffs.
“Basically, I’m there also on trade. They want to see if they can refine the trade deal a little bit. We made a deal, and it’s a great deal. And I’m into helping them,” Trump said on Tuesday.
“They’d like to see if they could get a little bit better deal, so we’ll talk to them.”
On Thursday, the action will move to Starmer’s Chequers country residence where the focus will be on geopolitics.
Reuters/Hauwa M.