Trump to be hosted by King at Windsor during unprecedented second state visit
This will be Mr Trump's second state visit to the UK – an unprecedented gesture towards an American leader, having previously been feted by a state visit in 2019.
The House of Commons will not be sitting at the time of Mr Trump's visit as it will be in recess for party conference season, meaning the president will not be able to address Parliament as French President Emmanuel Macron did during his state visit this week.
However, the House of Lords will be sitting.
In February this year, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer presented the US president with a letter from the King as he invited him for the visit during a meeting at the White House.
As the pair were sat next to each other in the Oval Office, Sir Keir handed the president the personal invitation, later saying 'this is truly historic and unprecedented'.
After reading it, Mr Trump said it was a 'great, great honour', adding 'and that says at Windsor – that's really something'.
In the letter, Charles suggested he and the president might meet at Balmoral or Dumfries House in Scotland first before the much grander state visit.
However, it is understood that, although all options were explored, there were logistical challenges surrounding an informal visit, with complexities in both the King and Mr Trump's diaries meaning a private meeting was not possible over the course of the summer months.
This week, a senior Police Scotland officer said the cost of policing a visit by Mr Trump will be 'considerable' and that the force will look to secure extra funding.
It emerged on Wednesday that the force was in the early stages of planning for a visit at the end of this month, which is likely to see the president visit one or both of his golf clubs in Aberdeenshire and Ayrshire and require substantial policing resources and probably units to be called in from elsewhere in the UK.
Precedent for second-term US presidents who have already made a state visit is usually tea or lunch with the monarch at Windsor Castle, as was the case for George W Bush and Barack Obama.
The late Queen hosted Mr Trump during his first state visit.
News of the plans for the September visit comes days after the King wrote to Mr Trump to express his 'profound sadness' after catastrophic flooding killed nearly 90 people in Texas.
Charles 'offered his deepest sympathy' to those who lost loved ones over the July Fourth weekend, the British Embassy in Washington said.
Back in March, Mr Trump sent the King his 'best wishes' and 'good health' in a phone call with Sir Keir after Charles spent a brief period in hospital after experiencing temporary side effects from his cancer treatment.
The September state visit comes after Charles visited Canada back in May where he opened the nation's parliament.
Many Canadians saw the King's two-day visit to Ottawa as a symbol of support for the country that has faced the unwanted attention of Mr Trump's trade war against his neighbour and threats to annex Canada.
This week, French president Mr Macron and his wife Brigitte were hosted by the King and Queen during his three-day state visit.
Mr Macron's itinerary included a glittering state banquet at Windsor Castle, a carriage ride through the historic Berkshire town and a ceremonial welcome.
The state dinner was attended by the Queen, the Prince and Princess of Wales, the Prime Minister and senior members of the Cabinet.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
3 minutes ago
- The Guardian
As the culture wars hit England's schools, we teachers are being thrown into a minefield
Parents' evening. Two words that many parents assume are a source of dread for teachers. But most will tell you this is a misconception. Why? Because the evening tends to offer a rare insight into the children we teach. It is, generally, a positive, purposeful discussion. There are, of course, the dreaded meetings with parents who are convinced you have it all wrong about their child. They will be at pains to point out that an incident with an exercise book, for example, was misunderstood. The book, they will argue, fell accidentally from X's grip. This, despite the fact your own eyes observed it being unceremoniously flung across the classroom. Then there is another trying bunch who, in exasperation, ask if they should take their child's iPad, PS5 or smartphone off them. To which the only answer can ever be that I, as their teacher, am in no place to say since I am not the parent. Meanwhile, their child sits mute, clearly desperate for the ground to open up and swallow them whole. Now, though, there is the possibility of a newer type of encounter. In this fraught exchange, a parent may ask a teacher to apply values of tolerance and inclusivity to views the teacher believes threatens those values. Given the way that the culture wars have a stranglehold on our politics, it is no surprise schools and teachers are seeing them cross the school gates into our classrooms. In a lesson on a Shakespearean text designed to discuss the issues of empire and colonialism at the heart of the play, a student may defend the benefits of empire. And a teacher, worried they could be labelled a member of the 'woke mob' that the rightwing press claim is taking over our public institutions, may leave the view unchallenged. This fear for teachers is real. When staff at a Warwickshire secondary school sent home a 12-year-old student who had come to a 'culture day' clad in a sequined union flag dress, a la Geri Halliwell in her Spice Girls era, the school had to close for the summer holidays a day early following threats to staff from extremists. Like clockwork, the headlines from a particular branch of our tabloid press wrote themselves. The school was undoubtedly overzealous in its approach. The girl, whose presentation on British culture involved a segment on our love of the cuppa, should have been allowed to take part in the day's events. Yet, while the union flag does not carry the same association with far-right nationalism as the St George's Cross, we can perhaps have sympathy for teachers who must have been trying to avoid the very ire and upset they found themselves surrounded by. Schools are told they must champion inclusivity, yet teachers' politics must be left at the door. Nowhere is this balancing act harder to follow than in the immigration debate. Last week, a far-right mob outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Essex could be heard shouting that a seriously hurt security guard should 'go home … fuck off back on your boat and go'. In this febrile climate, it is not beyond the realms of possibility for a geography teacher in any part of the UK to find themselves dealing with the ripple effects. A lesson on migration may end with them fielding questions on whether or not there are 'too many immigrants'. The Department for Education says a teacher must 'take steps to ensure the balanced presentation of opposing views on political issues' whenever such claims arise. Yet the teacher must also protect their pupils from hate. If a comment is dismissed outright, the teacher could be accused of limiting freedom of expression and legitimate debate. If they let it stand, however, they are seen as normalising the type of language that led to preteens lobbing projectiles at police guarding hotels housing asylum seekers in Southport. As teachers with a legal duty to uphold the Prevent strategy, we are required to safeguard pupils from radicalisation and extremism. But what counts as radical or extreme is increasingly debated. Pupils and their parents may claim their 'political speech' is being muted if we intervene. The tightrope is about to get thinner still with the government's announcement that 16-year-olds will be granted the right to vote in the next general election. Classroom discussions on election issues could well be interpreted as examples of voter influence. This is before we have tackled the shortage of specialist citizenship teachers. Or the need for, as Liz Moorse, the head of the Association of Citizenship Teaching, puts it, 'clear content on democracy, voting, rights and media literacy'. I am writing anonymously because the price of doing otherwise is high. After the union-flag debacle at the Warwickshire secondary school, staff received death threats. Students already routinely attempt to hack teachers' social media accounts in a bid to publish their personal data, or worse, and our employment contracts warn against bringing schools into disrepute. It would be splitting hairs to argue whether the disrepute in question is outrage whipped up by the rightwing press. The stakes have never been higher for teachers. We have a duty to get these conversations right for the children we teach. But what was once clear is no longer so. We are expected to be moral without being political, inclusive yet not ideological. We should teach critical thinking, but not too much in case we fall into wokery. The classroom is in danger of becoming a minefield. The writer is a teacher in England
Daily Record
3 minutes ago
- Daily Record
British nuclear sub commanders given note on what to do if WW3 breaks out
PM writes four identical letters that are handed to the commander of each of the UK's Vanguard-class submarines The commanders of the UK's nuclear submarine fleet each hold a handwritten note from the Prime Minister, outlining instructions in the event of the country's leadership being obliterated. These 'letters of last resort', which are torn up and rewritten with every change of PM, instruct the Trident submarine crew on what to do if the government falls due to a nuclear attack or pandemic. The UK's nuclear deterrent is solely based on the submarine-launched ballistic missile system deployed across its four Vanguard-class submarines operating on a continuous at-sea deterrent. Each submarine is equipped with up to 40 deployed Trident D5 warheads, weighing 59,000 kg and capable of delivering multiple devastating 475Kt yields to any target within range of 7,000 miles and can remain submerged for months at a time. These formidable deterrents, which cost £5.8billion each to build when adjusted for inflation, stretch to 491 feet in length and all contain a chilling, handwritten command from the Prime Minister should a nuclear conflict break out, reports the Express. The notorious Last Resort Letters are torn up and rewritten each time a new Prime Minister is elected, and their contents are shrouded in mystery. No official letter has been seen by the public, but their existence has been confirmed by military officials. The four Vanguard-class submarines: Vanguard, Victorious, Vigilant and Vengeance, carry identical letters containing instructions on what to do if the British government and its successors are wiped out by a nuclear attack. As reported by BBC Radio 4 and The Guardian in 2016, these letters, penned by the sitting Prime Minister, present a list of options for the submarine's crew of over 130 members. Reportedly, the options include: "Put yourself under the command of the United States, if it is still there", "Go to Australia", "Retaliate", or "Use your own judgement". However, only the author knows the chosen option. Historian Peter Hennessy, in his book 'The Secret State: Whitehall and the Cold War', explains that the submarine commanders would determine whether the British government had fallen by conducting checks, including seeing if BBC Radio 4 was still broadcasting. The Vanguard vessels are due to be replaced within the next ten years by the upgraded Dreadnought fleet, which will also carry the Trident D5 nuclear deterrent. Construction of these four replacements is currently in progress, with the first expected to be ready in the 'early 2030s' while the current deterrent continues to patrol the world's oceans. Although the location of the patrolling vessels is classified, HMNB Clyde (Faslane) serves as the primary base for the Vanguard class and is also home to the Royal Navy's submarine service. Fortunately, up to now, no commanding officer has had to open a Last Resort Letter and long may this continue to be the case.
The Independent
5 minutes ago
- The Independent
Wimbledon wins High Court battle with residents over £200m expansion plans
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story. The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it. Your support makes all the difference.
