‘She kept me waiting but that’s fine. Hey, it’s the Queen, right?’
DONALD TRUMP has claimed the Queen kept him waiting for their meeting at Windsor Castle last month, but added the pair “got along fantastically” and had “good chemistry”.
The US president said he arrived early and waited to be called, but added: “That’s fine. Hey, it’s the Queen, right?”
Mr Trump also claimed their conversation over tea was due to last only 15 minutes but actually stretched for around an hour.
The anecdote, delivered to cheering supporters at a Pennsylvania rally on Thursday night, was one of a series used by Mr Trump to show how the press allegedly misreports his presidency.
The Queen met Mr Trump on his UK visit last month. There was speculation at the time he had turned up late after footage showed the Queen looking at her watch. However, some journalists reported on the day that was wrong.
Speaking about the meeting during his rally, Mr Trump gave his side of the story, describing the Queen as “incredible” and recalling what happened.
“I was about 15 minutes early and I’m waiting with my wife and that’s fine. Hey, it’s the Queen, right? We can wait. But I’m a little early,” Mr Trump said. “So I then go up and meet the Queen and she is fantastic. We then go up and we have tea. And I didn’t know this – it was supposed to last for 15 minutes but it lasted for like an hour, because we got along! We got along. And she liked our first lady and our first lady liked her.”
He added: “We got along fantastically well and the time went by – you know, sometimes when you like somebody, you get along, good chemistry, the time goes by. So we were there for about an hour.”
A royal source said: “They met at exactly the time they were due to meet. It was on schedule as far as I’m aware.”
Mr Trump told the crowd that he would not divulge the details of what they discussed, joking: “Unless you want to hear them? No, I’m only kidding.” He then used the example as proof that the US newspapers and broadcasters – with whom he has repeatedly clashed since taking office – are skewing their coverage of him.
Mr Trump said: “Here’s the rest of the story. So they said I was late when I was actually early, number one. Number two, I guess the meeting was scheduled for 15 minutes and it lasted for almost an hour. The president overstayed.
“So I was late and I overstayed. And honestly folks, it was such a beautiful, beautiful visit and afternoon, but they can make anything bad because they are the fake, fake disgusting news.”
Mr Trump listed other examples of perceived media bias from the same Europe trip in his rally speech, which was intended to promote the Republicans’ US Senate candidate Lou Barletta, picking out criticism of his joint press conference with Vladimir Putin.
He bemoaned that Pennsylvania was not the state to clinch his US election win because “the fake news refused to call it”. Mr Trump asked: “Whatever happened to fair press? Whatever happened to honest reporting?”
He also discussed the various different names for parts of the British Isles.
He said: “I have great respect for the UK, United Kingdom. Great respect.
“People call it Britain, they call it Great Britain. They used to call it England, different parts.”