TRUMP’S STATE VISIT SNUB TO CHARLES OVER CLIMATE CHANGE
President ‘will avoid Charles on state visit ...to escape lecture on climate change’
DONALD TRUMP’S forthcoming State visit to Britain was hit by a diplomatic row last night after it emerged he wants to avoid Prince Charles because of their dispute over global warming.
The President is understood to have made it clear he does not want talks with the Prince at Clarence House, a regular feature of such visits. Trump is said to fear a meeting will encourage environmentalists to stage protests against him.
Reports of Trump’s threatened boycott of the Prince come a week after the publication of a new book by the heir to the throne warning of the threat posed by climate change.
The rift threatens to cast a cloud over Theresa May’s hopes that the visit she announced during her trip to America last week would seal a new Anglo-US ‘special relationship’.
The Prince, who wrote on climate change in last week’s Mail on Sunday, is said to regard Trump’s views on the issue as ‘appalling’ and is
‘Prince will raise issue as he’s passionate about it’
‘relaxed’ about the prospect of not meeting him. ‘If the opportunity arises, the Prince would discuss the issue with the President in a courteous, respectful and candid way,’ said a well-placed source.
‘If the President does not want tea at Clarence House, that is a matter for him. It would be a pity because, as a non-politician, Charles is in a unique position to raise matters like this. Either way, he will play a full part in the State visit.’
Instead of seeing Prince Charles, Trump wants tea or dinner plus a photocall with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge at Kensington Palace – ‘to get even with Obama’ who was accorded the privilege last year.
An insider said: ‘The White House has got it into its head that Charles is going to lecture Trump about climate change. They don’t want that to happen. Charles doesn’t mind either way. He thinks Trump’s statements on this subject and others are frankly appalling. If Trump meets Charles, the Prince will raise the matter because he feels passionately about it. He isn’t going to cause a row. But if Trump doesn’t want to meet him, so be it.’
Another source said: ‘Trump is treating the State visit like one long wishlist of egotistical treats and photocalls. There is little evidence he plans to do much of any serious- ness or substance.’ Trump has described global warming as a Chinese ‘hoax’ intended to wreck American industry. In his new book, the Prince has said we must act to avoid the ‘potentially devastating consequences’ of climate change. He suggested including global warming alerts in TV weather forecasts to raise awareness.
There was a further blow for
feel much better after I thoroughly wash my hands, which I do as much as possible.’
But the notoriously thin-skinned Mr Trump is unlikely to welcome the idea that he had to clutch Mrs May for support – especially as he has been plagued by jokes about the size of his hands. Trump is reportedly so angry about one New York journalist’s jibe that he was a ‘short-fingered vulgarian’ that 30 years on from the claim he still sends the writer photos of himself, his hands outlined in gold marker pen to prove they are normal.
When asked about the handholding, a No10 spokeswoman said that after a ‘very friendly’ meeting in the Oval Office, he ‘offered his hand’ as a ‘chivalrous gesture’ because they were about to walk down an unseen ramp.
A source close to the White House last night cast doubt on the bathmophobia claim, saying he had never noticed Mr Trump struggle with stairs or slopes. He also said there was no mention of the condition on the President’s public medical reports.