Britain treated Donald Trump to an elaborate ceremonial welcome featuring a gun salute and mounted horses as the US president’s unprecedented second state visit began under tight security on Wednesday.
Heir-to-the-throne Prince William and his wife Catherine warmly greeted Trump and First Lady Melania Trump after the Marine One helicopter touched down at Windsor Castle shortly at 12:15 pm (1115 GMT).
Inside a ring of steel and out of sight from noisy protesters, William and Catherine walked Trump and his wife a short distance to meet King Charles III and Queen Camilla as the UK’s major charm offensive got underway.
As the president shook hands with the king, a 41-gun salute was fired simultaneously from six World War One-era guns on the castle’s east lawn, as a similar display occurred at the Tower of London, in the centre of the capital.
Some 120 horses and 1,300 members of the British military took part in the ceremony, which UK officials say marked the largest military ceremonial welcome for a state visit to Britain in living memory.
The Trumps and the royals then embarked on a carriage procession through the Windsor estate towards the nearly 1,000-year-old castle.
Britain is going the extra mile to dazzle and flatter the unpredictable Trump with an extraordinary show of pomp and pageantry as it tries to keep him onside during a host of international crises.
Trump, an overt royal fan, has made little secret of his delight at being not just the first U.S. leader, but the first elected politician to be invited by a British monarch for two state visits.
On his arrival, he told reporters he loved Britain. “It’s a very special place,” he said.
UK HOPES VISIT WILL CEMENT ‘SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP’.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer is hoping to use that sentiment to Britain’s advantage as his government seeks to cement the two nations’ “special relationship”, deepen economic ties, secure billions of dollars of investment, discuss tariffs and press the U.S. president on Ukraine and Israel.
Companies including Microsoft, Nvidia, Google and OpenAI have already pledged 31 billion pounds ($42 billion) in British investments over the next few years, in AI, quantum computing and civil nuclear energy.
Starmer also wants further progress on trade, after Britain secured the first deal with Trump to lower some tariffs. Talks may touch on remaining levies on steel, whisky and salmon.
“They want to see if they can refine the trade deal a little bit,” Trump said when he left the White House for Britain on Tuesday.
But while Starmer is banking on the unrivalled royal allure helping cajole the anglophile president, whose mother came from Scotland, many pitfalls for Britain’s prime minister remain.
Polls show Trump is widely unpopular in Britain and Starmer, faced with plummeting poll ratings of his own and economic woes, will need to show that his royal trump card can reap benefits.
