Donald & Melania Trump To Have Tea With Queen Elizabeth On Friday
Buckingham Palace released a statement today that indicated that Donald and Melania Trump would be meeting with Queen Elizabeth II this coming Friday, July 13. The world leaders and some family members will be meeting at Windsor Castle for tea amongst other formal proceedings, according to Us Weekly.
The itinerary roughly goes as follows: The British monarch will greet President Trump and the first lady of the United States at the dais placed in the quadrangle of the royal castle. Of incidental interest, Windsor Castle also recently hosted the widely televised wedding between Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan Markle about two months ago.
An honor guard comprised of the elite Coldstream Guards, the oldest remaining unit of the regular British Army, will offer up a royal salute in respect of the arrival of the Trump family while the “Star Spangled Banner” is played. President Trump and Queen Elizabeth will then take their time to inspect the honor guard and enjoy watching the military march on display, paying tribute to both world leaders.
After much pomp and circumstance, President Trump and the first lady will then retire to join the Queen for tea, and likely some private discussion.
Queen Elizabeth has met with nearly all of the dozen American presidents during her very long reign of 66 years on the throne – the only exception being Lyndon B. Johnson. She held meetings with actor turned president Ronald Reagan in 1982, George W. Bush in 2008, and Barack Obama in 2016 just before he retired from office after his own two terms of service.
President Trump is currently engaging in talks regarding the funding strategy for NATO, urging members to up their efforts to make good on their promises to commit more resources to the joint military effort, in which the UK shares a role and responsibility.
While there is a great deal of anticipation for the event itself, a historic meeting between Donald Trump and Queen Elizabeth has been on the media radar for some time; the relationship between the mercurial American leader and some British lawmakers has been rocky at best.
A longstanding spat between Trump and London Mayor Sadiq Khan will be exemplified by the flying of the infamous “Trump Baby” balloon over London for a span of a few hours as the president arrives for his visit, as previously reported by the Inquisitr, a move applauded by signatories to the petition pushing the balloon forward and derided by some British Conservative Party MPs and supporters of Trump and his administration.
President Donald Trump will meet Queen Elizabeth II as the UK rolls out the red carpet for his visit https://t.co/paBEYlQNgl pic.twitter.com/KQgoiDRoDz
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) July 8, 2018
As for the royal family themselves, they have remained notoriously tight-lipped on the matter in terms of public perception, although a source had allegedly told Us Weekly early last year that Prince Harry was “not a fan of Donald,” whom the prince apparently believes “is a serious threat to human rights.”
