...and here we are with the Queen
IT MIGHT not have been a state visit, but Donald Trump certainly looked very pleased to have met the Queen yesterday.
Posing for a photograph with the monarch and his wife Melania inside Windsor Castle on their way to have tea in her private apartments, the US president’s broad smile signalled just how much he was enjoying having the red carpet rolled out for him.
He even got more time with the Queen than he was expecting: after all the pomp and ceremony of the welcome, he was only meant to have 30 minutes with her indoors, but instead it lasted for 48 minutes.
And how the red carpet was rolled out for him. Having flown into Windsor, near London, by helicopter, Mr and Mrs Trump arrived in the castle’s quadrangle by car via the George IV gate.
The Queen was already there waiting for him on a dais and wearing a blue coat, dress and hat by Angela Kelly. The Queen arrived in the quadrangle 11 minutes before the president, the band striking up God Save The Queen as she watched.
The Queen looked twice at her watch, leading to online speculation that Mr Trump was late and keeping her waiting, but he arrived at the time he was due to. A Guard of Honour, formed of the Coldstream Guards, one of the British Army’s longest-serving units, was already there, too, waiting in the heat in their red tunics and bearskin hats.
There has been much speculation about how Mr Trump, who is famed for saying and acting exactly how he likes, might cope with the etiquette and protocol of meeting the Queen.
But yesterday he was on his best behaviour. As he got out of the Range Rover, he bowed his head. The First Lady did not curtsey, but royal watchers noted there is no obligation for her to do so. The Queen and Mr Trump inspected the troops. Well, the Queen, 92, did. Mr Trump did not seem to be paying too much attention to the soldiers, his gaze instead mostly fixed straight ahead as he walked at the monarch’s side along the front rank of guards, looking for all the world as though he was simply enjoying the sense of occasion.
The Trumps and the Queen then watched the military march past, before heading in for tea in the Queen’s private apartments.
Outside the castle, and inaudible from inside the quadrangle, protesters lined Castle Hill, which lead up to the castle’s visitor entrance. Emma Kennedy, 51, from Surrey, held a placard, reading: ‘Save our Queen from the fascist tangerine.’
She said: ‘It’s an outrage he is being allowed this great, great honour of meeting the Queen. I think it’s telling she’s only giving him a cup of tea, not dinner.’ On the other side of the road, however, stood Trump supporters.
One, a retired businesswoman from the northern England, said: ‘We need a Trump. He’s a businessman and knows how to look after his people.’