U.S. President Donald Trump heaped praise on King Charles III during a lavish banquet for 160 guests at Windsor Castle Wednesday evening, marking the culmination of an unprecedented state visit that was kept entirely from public view.
The Royal Family put all of its pageantry on display for Mr. Trump and his wife Melania, in an effort to help the British government curry favour with the volatile president.
From a carriage procession with the King to salutes from hundreds of soldiers, a choir concert, a Royal Air Force flypast, and a visit to the tomb of Queen Elizabeth II – Mr. Trump was treated like no other world leader. The King also gave Mr. Trump the flag that flew over Buckingham Palace on the day of his inauguration in January.
“This is truly one of the highest honours of my life, I have such respect for you and such respect for your country for many decades,” Mr. Trump said during the state banquet.
The only thing missing from the visit were the crowds.
U.S. President Donald Trump hailed the 'eternal' bond between the United States and Britain in a Windsor Castle state banquet toast on Wednesday.
Reuters
Security concerns in the wake of the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk meant that Mr. Trump’s visit was confined to Windsor Castle, which was sealed off from the public with a row of temporary walls.
Unlike French President Emmanuel Macron, who rode in an open carriage with the King through the streets of Windsor during a state visit in July, Mr. Trump‘s tour was confined to the castle grounds.
The heavy police presence didn’t stop a group of protesters from gathering near the entrance of the castle Wednesday morning, as the Trumps arrived by helicopter from London.
Explainer: What’s at stake during Trump’s second official visit to the U.K.
“I live in Windsor, I love Windsor and I love the King and the Royal Family,” said protester Amy Tisi as she stood on a sidewalk near the entrance. “I just feel like this whole spectacle is for Donald Trump’s ego rather than necessarily for the good of our country.”
Louise Glover stood out in her blue “Make Britain Great Again” ball cap. She has been unhoused for around a year, and believes the country would be better off if the government followed the U.S. President’s footsteps. “If I do get a chance to speak to somebody like Donald Trump, I’d say ‘Could you help us make Great Britain great again?’,” she said.
In central London, around 5,000 people marched to Parliament Square, voicing their opposition to Mr. Trump’s second state visit.
Mr. Trump’s trip will shift away from royalty on Thursday, when he heads for a meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at Chequers, the Prime Minister’s country retreat. Mr. Starmer appears to be hoping the royal pomp will have won over Mr. Trump and will encourage him to drop some of his punishing tariffs.
U.S. President Donald Trump arrived in the United Kingdom on Tuesday for a state visit during which the British government hopes a multibillion-dollar technology deal will show the trans-Atlantic bond remains strong despite differences over Ukraine, the Middle East and the future of the Western alliance.
The Associated Press
Mr. Starmer has secured some tariff relief but many of the details have yet to be finalized. Britain still faces a 25-per-cent U.S. tariff on steel and aluminium, half the duty charged to imports from Canada and other countries. British and U.S. officials were supposed to be working on a deal to cut that tariff to zero, but no progress has been made.
Mr. Starmer and Mr. Trump will sign a Tech Prosperity Deal on Thursday, which is aimed at fostering closer ties between the two countries in the development of artificial intelligence infrastructure, quantum computing capabilities and nuclear power.
A group of U.S. tech giants – Microsoft, Nvidia, Google, OpenAI and CoreWeave — have announced plans to invest a combined £31-billion, or $58.2-billion, in Britain on a variety of AI-related projects. More than half of the investment – £22-billion – is coming from Microsoft, which has committed to building new data centres and Britain’s largest AI supercomputer.
U.S. and Britain to announce tech, nuclear energy deals during Trump visit
Microsoft’s chief executive Satya Nadella, one of several tech leaders who travelled to Britain with Mr. Trump, told the BBC that his company’s investment could boost U.K. growth and productivity within five years. “Whenever anyone gets excited about AI, I want to see it ultimately in the economic growth and the GDP growth,” he said.
There have been concerns that in return for the deal, Mr. Trump will demand that Britain drop its digital services tax; a two-per-cent levy on the revenue that global tech companies generate there. The tax raises around £800-million annually and Mr. Trump has pushed Canada and other countries to drop similar taxes.
Technology Secretary Liz Kendall told the BBC on Wednesday that dropping the tax was not a condition of the tech deal.
Some critics have questioned the decision to attract this much foreign investment in AI instead of building Britain’s own domestic industry, like France, Denmark, Germany and India have done. Giving so much AI power to U.S. businesses could raise security issues, they say.
“We are now at risk of relinquishing control of an important new technology to monopolist international platforms,” Mike Bracken, the British government’s former chief digital and data officer wrote in the Financial Times this week. Britain “may end up building the foundations for other countries’ successful technologies,” he added.
It’s also unclear where the new AI facilities will draw the massive amounts of energy and water they need to operate. Britain “will foot the bill for the colossal amounts of power the giants need – meaning rocketing prices for households – as well as the water needed to keep them cool,” said Donald Campbell, director of advocacy for the London-based tech justice group Foxglove, in a Tuesday statement.
Maybe it was nerves from being in the presence of royalty, or perhaps it was a simple mistake, but over the years there have been quite a few gaffes between U.S. presidents, first ladies and members of the British Royal family.
The Associated Press