The Queen and President Trump: The 2018 Official Visit

Queen Elizabeth II with US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump in Windsor Castle. Image from Wikimedia Commons

Throughout her long reign Queen Elizabeth II has met every U.S. president, save for Lyndon B. Johnson.  The Queen has met President Donald Trump twice: first when he and First Lady Melania Trump paid an official visit to U.K. in 2018, and then when the presidential couple returned for a more formal state visit in 2019.

In 2017, the US President was extended the honour of a full state visit after meeting Theresa May. However,the official invitation – which is traditionally reserved for a president’s second term in office – prompted threats of mass protests and boycotts over Mr. Trump’s notoreity.  More than 1.8 million people signed a petition against the plans and Commons Speaker John Bercow told MPs that the U.S. president should not be allowed to address Parliament. London Mayor Sadiq Khan also opposed the visit, saying he was “not sure it is appropriate for our Government to roll out the red carpet” for him. The visit was eventually downgraded into an “official visit” and, instead of a banquet at Buckingham Palace, he was invited to tea by  Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle, where the two heads of state made a ceremonial inspection of the guard. The U.S. president was seen taking an abrupt halt through the inspection until the queen quickly told him where the go and then, Her Majesty was forced to walk around him. The U.S. president had earlier praised the Queen for being a "tremendous woman."

Eventually, the planned president’s state visit to the UK materialized in 2019.