QUEEN TAKES ONE FOR THE TEAM
Trump on the Queen: ‘She has really never made a mistake. You don’t see, like, anything embarrassing.’
DONALD Trump was welcomed by the Queen to Windsor Castle as the official part of his whirlwind visit to the UK drew to a close.
Her Majesty greeted the US leader and First Lady Melania Trump in the quadrangle of the royal residence – a home to kings and queens for centuries.
Waiting to be inspected by Trump was a guard of honour, formed by one of the Army’s longest serving units, the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards, in their red tunics and bearskins.
Ahead of the meeting between the heads of state, Trump spoke of his admiration for the Queen, in which he called her a “tremendous woman”.
He said: “If you think of it, for so many years she has represented her country, she has really never made a mistake.
“You don’t see, like, anything embarrassing. She is just an incredible woman.
“My wife is a tremendous fan of hers. She has got a great and grace about her.” Trump, however, did not bow as he shook hands briefly with the Queen on the dais and Melania did not curtsy.
The monarch – who wore a blue coat, dress and hat by Angela Kelly – smiled broadly and shared a few words with the Trumps before indicating they should stand either side of her for the military band’s rendition of the American national anthem.
After the meet and greet, they headed for tea together in the castle’s Oak Room, where in 2016 the Queen hosted Barack Obama and his wife Michelle.
In 2008, when then George W. Bush had tea with the Queen at Windsor, he enjoyed an English afternoon spread of tea, sandbeautiful wiches and cakes in the White Drawing Room. Trump and the First Lady spent 57 minutes – 17 minutes longer than expected – with the Queen at the castle.
During the Queen’s 66-year reign, there have been 13 American presidents, from Harry S. Truman to Trump, and she has now met all of them except one, Lyndon B. Johnson.