President Donald Trump has arrived in the UK for his historic second state visit, which will see a crowded mix of royal pageantry, trade talks and international politics.
Before making the trip from the US on Air Force One, Trump sent positive signals, describing the visit as an honour and saying: “My relationship is very good with the UK.”
“They want to see if they can refine the trade deal a little bit… I’m into helping them,” said Trump, with a multi-billion US technology investment deal being announced as the president’s visit got underway.
But Trump said the main purpose of the visit was to see “my friend” King Charles: “He represents the country so well, such an elegant gentleman.”
Landing at Stansted airport, President Trump received an official welcome from a line-up on the runway including Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper.
The president is spending the night in the US ambassador’s residence, Winfield House, before a day of royal ceremony and lavish spectacle in Windsor Castle on Wednesday – with the president describing Windsor as “the ultimate” in settings.
Hosting him will be King Charles and a full line-up of senior royals, currently including Queen Camilla, who had to miss the Duchess of Kent’s funeral on Tuesday because she was suffering from acute sinusitis.
Prince William and Catherine will be part of a ceremonial welcome, there will be a gun salute, military inspection and President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump will have a carriage procession within the Windsor estate.
Such spectacles will be aimed at pleasing a president who on Tuesday evening at Winfield House once again revealed his enthusiasm for royalty, saying about the King: “He’s been a friend of mine for a long time, and everybody respects him, and they love him.”
On his feelings about the UK, President Trump said: “I have a lot of things here that warm my heart. I want to tell you. It’s a very special place.”
A key message from the UK government will be to encourage the United States to maintain its commitment to Nato and to support Ukraine and there will be a much bigger than usual military line-up for the state visit.
There will be 1,300 service men and women, from the Army, Royal Navy and RAF taking part in the welcome, creating the largest ever guard of honour for a state visit to the UK.
A joint US and UK flypast by F-35 jets and the Red Arrows will fly over Windsor, watched by Sir Keir Starmer alongside the president, in a display showing the closeness of the military relationship.
The centrepiece of the state visit will be the spectacular banquet in St George’s Hall, where King Charles and President Trump will make speeches, with guests enjoying a menu that’s likely to be a culinary representation of the special relationship, with UK and US food.
Along with the royal pageantry and photo-opportunities, there will be efforts to influence the US president over trade and international co-operation.
State visits are a form of soft power diplomacy, using the royal charm offensive to build relations with important international partners – with none more important than the US.
As the visit got underway, a major technology deal was announced with US tech firms investing £31bn in the UK, including £22bn from Microsoft.
This will see co-operation in artificial intelligence, quantum computing and nuclear power, in a tech deal which Sir Keir Starmer hopes will begin “creating highly skilled jobs, putting more money in people’s pockets”.
Ahead of the visit, the owner of Google, Alphabet, announced a £5bn ($6.8bn) investment in the UK’s artificial intelligence research.
And an agreement is to be signed between the US and UK on accelerating the development of nuclear power.
But ambitions to remove the current 25% tariff on UK steel exports to the US seem to have been put on hold – although this remains lower than the 50% tariff facing many other countries.
Anti-Trump protestors have begun to gather in Windsor – and giant images of Donald Trump and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have been projected on to the walls of Windsor Castle.
Thames Valley Police later said four people had been arrested following an “unauthorised projection at Windsor Castle”, with a statement saying they “take any unauthorised activity around Windsor Castle extremely seriously”.
A heavy security operation will be in place during the presidential visit, which ends on Thursday afternoon.
But unlike other recent state visits, there will not be any moments visible to the public, with all the events taking place behind the walls of the Windsor estate or at the PM’s country estate, Chequers.
The high street in Windsor has US flags flying, but they won’t be seen by the visiting president.
By BBC News
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