UK to roll out red carpet for second Trump state visit

BUCKINGHAM: Britain will welcome Donald Trump for an unprecedented second state visit in September, Buckingham Palace confirmed Monday, saying he would stay as the guest of King Charles III at Windsor Castle.

The US president “accompanied by the First Lady Mrs Melania Trump, has accepted an invitation from His Majesty The King to pay a state visit to the United Kingdom from 17 September to 19 September 2025,” said a palace statement.

The visit will come only two months after Charles, and his wife Queen Camilla, welcomed French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte to Windsor.

Trump was invited by a personal letter from Charles, which Prime Minister Keir Starmer handed to him in February during a visit to Washington.

Ishaq Dar to lead Pakistan’s delegation at SCO meeting

Starmer has sought to woo Trump with a charm offensive to boost ties and gain better leverage for the UK in tough trade talks with Washington.

A delighted Trump, who has long been a big fan of the British royal family, has called the invitation a “very great honour”, and opened the letter from the king in the glare of the world’s cameras.

“This is really special, this has never happened before, this is unprecedented,” Starmer said in the Oval Office as he handed Trump a hand-signed letter from the monarch.

“This is truly historic.”

Britain rolled out the red carpet for Trump in 2019 when he met the late Queen Elizabeth II, King Charles’s mother. No foreign leader has ever had a second state visit.

The Times daily said the king had however sought to put off the new visit until later in Trump’s second term, but “Starmer has gone against the wishes of the king” in bringing the visit forward.

“The prime minister has expedited a full ‘bells and whistles’ visit in an attempt to capitalise on the president’s fascination with the royal family,” The Times said.

Starmer will also meet with Trump this month when the Republican leader is expected to visit Scotland, where he has two golf resorts.

The visit has not been publicly confirmed by the White House, but Downing Street said Monday that Trump would be “visiting in a private capacity” and “the prime minister is pleased to take up the president’s invite to meet during his stay”.

Trump’s threats against Canada have put Charles, who is the country’s head of state, in a delicate position.