Queen will ‘add value’ to Trump’s UK trip, says envoy

DONALD TRUMP “really wants” to meet the Queen when he visits the UK, the US ambassador to Britain has confirmed.

The president’s itinerary for his long-awaited UK trip on July 13 – a Friday – has yet to be ironed out, but Ambassador Robert Wood Johnson said his boss would “definitely” be coming to London, despite the threat of likely demonstrations.

Mr Trump was “thick-skinned” enough to deal with protests, Mr Johnson said, and suggested that he might win over critics like the London Mayor Sadiq Khan.

Mr Khan said only that Mr Trump could look forward to “an open and diverse city that has always chosen unity over division and hope over fear”.

Concern over possible demonstrations is thought to have played a part in the cancellation of a trip to open the new US embassy in London earlier this year, though Mr Trump blamed it on his anger over the “bad deal” America got on the land.

The ambassador was unable to confirm who Mr Trump will meet in July, but he said: “I think he really wants to meet the Queen. I think he has a really positive view, he knows that the value-added of the Royal Family and what they bring to the table is enormous. You can really see it from an American perspective maybe even clearer than you can see it here.”

Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and Balmoral have been tipped as locations for the encounter. Mr Trump’s mother was born on the Isle of Lewis, and he made frequent visits to Scotland before becoming president. Mr Johnson said that a lot of the Trump style could be traced to his Scottish roots.