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Back in the before times, Britain’s prime minister was almost always given the “honor” of being the first foreign leader to visit a new American president. That honor reflected the British-American “special relationship.” That stopped at some point, and Donald Trump has already received Emmanual Macron, King Abdullah, Benjamin Netanyahu, Narendra Modi and Shigeru Ishiba at the White House in his first five weeks in office. On Thursday, Britain’s PM Keir Starmer finally visited. There had been a lot of drama ahead of the meeting, mostly from the British tabloids. The tabloids were convinced that Trump would spit on Starmer as soon as they met, because Starmer and his Labour allies had openly hoped for Kamala Harris to win the election. I guess someone forgot to tell Trump about that, because he seemingly received Starmer with no hard feelings. Starmer was practically dripping with sycophancy, which is probably why Trump treated him somewhat decently. Plus, Starmer came bearing a letter from King Charles.
King Charles has invited Donald Trump to make an unprecedented second state visit to the UK in a letter handed to the US president by Keir Starmer. Queen Elizabeth II hosted Trump on a state visit in 2019. 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.
Trump received the invitation during a meeting at the White House on Thursday, with Starmer presenting the letter from the king. In the letter, which Trump showed to the cameras in the Oval Office, Charles suggested he and Trump could meet beforehand at Dumfries House or Balmoral, which are near Trump’s golf courses in Scotland, to discuss the plans for the much grander visit.
The letter, partially obscured by Trump’s hand, read: “I can only say that it would be … pleasure to extend that invitation once again, in the hope that you … some stage be visiting Turnberry and a detour to a relatively near neighbour might not cause you too much inconvenience. An alternative might perhaps be for you to visit Balmoral. There is much on both estates which I think you might find interesting, and enjoy – particularly as my foundation at Dumfries House provides hospitality skills-training for young people who often end up as staff on your own establishments!”
The letter continued: “Quite apart from this presenting an opportunity to discuss a wide range of issues of mutual interest, it would also offer a valuable chance to plan a historic second state visit to the United Kingdom. As you will know this is unprecedented by a US President. That is why I would find it helpful for us to be able to discuss, together, a range of options for location and programme content. In so doing, working together, I know we will further enhance the special relationship between our two countries of which we are both so proud.”
The letter was hand-signed by the king: “Yours Most Sincerely, Charles.”
During Trump’s meeting with Starmer in the Oval Office, the president said of the UK: “It’s a very special place and [Starmer is] a special man – and the United Kingdom is a wonderful country that I know very well, I’m there a lot. I’ll be going there and we expect to see each other in the near future – we’ll be announcing it.”
While it’s clear that Charles poured on the charm, he would not have done so without the explicit approval of Downing Street and the Foreign Office. Downing Street and Buckingham Palace are entirely united in this situation: Starmer is using the trappings of monarchy to impress Trump and keep Trump happy, plus Charles likes feeling important and politically vital. Additionally, Trump cut off Starmer & a journalist when Starmer was trying to minimize Trump’s unhinged threats to “annex Canada.”
Keir Starmer passed on an invitation letter from King Charles to Trump. He made him read it out.
At this rate, he may as well twerk for him. pic.twitter.com/yEcuEugQJD
— Mukhtar (@I_amMukhtar) February 27, 2025
Starmer: You mentioned Canada, I think you’re trying to find a divide that doesn’t exist
Trump: That’s enough! pic.twitter.com/NF3wHaA45X
— FactPost (@factpostnews) February 27, 2025
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
