President Donald Trump was welcomed with full royal pageantry, including military honor guards and mounted troops, as he joined King Charles III at Windsor Castle on Wednesday to begin a state visit marked by both spectacle and political risk for Britain.
Prince William and his wife, Catherine, met Trump's helicopter as it landed in the private Walled Garden on the vast estate, and they walked the American president and first lady Melania Trump over to be greeted by the king and Queen Camilla.
The guests traveled to the castle in a procession of horse-drawn carriages, past ranks of soldiers, sailors and aviators, as military bands played the U.S. and British national anthems.
The king and the Republican president chatted in the Irish State Coach during the short journey to the castle quadrangle, where Trump, accompanied by Charles, inspected an honor guard of soldiers in red tunics and bearskin hats.
The day of pageantry, the highlight of Trump's second state visit to Britain, was on a scale designed to impress the grandeur-loving president and involved some 120 horses and 1,300 troops, including the largest guard of honor in living memory.
It is all meant to bolster ties with Trump at a time when his America First policies are putting pressure on trade and security arrangements around the globe. British officials are also hoping to avoid awkward questions about Jeffrey Epstein. Days before the state visit, Prime Minister Keir Starmer fired Britain’s ambassador to the United States, Peter Mandelson, over the diplomat's past friendship with the convicted sex offender.
The backdrop for the first of the two days Trump is spending in Britain is Windsor Castle, an almost 1,000-year-old royal residence with gilded interiors, crenelated towers and priceless artworks. A gigantic royal standard, the flag used for official celebration days, flew from the castle’s Royal Tower.
The prospect of a visit to the castle has seemed to enchant Trump, who ditched his trademark bluster and described the invitation as "a great, great honor."
"I think that also is why he seems so visibly excited about the second meeting, because it isn’t an invitation given to (just) anyone," said George Gross, an expert on the British monarchy at King's College London.
Britain's royals long ago gave up political power, but their history, tradition and celebrity give them a cachet that means presidents and prime ministers covet an invitation to join them. Invitations handed out at the request of the elected government are a powerful tool to reward friends and wring concessions from reluctant allies.
No U.S. president, or any other world leader, has ever had the honor of a second U.K. state visit.
Trump plans talks Thursday with Starmer, who will promote a new U.K.-U.S. technology deal. The British government hopes the deal, and billions in investment from U.S. tech companies, will help show that the trans-Atlantic bond remains strong despite differences over Ukraine, the Middle East and the future of NATO.
