Donald Trump’s state visit next week will stand the UK in good stead to have “a better bilateral relationship with the US than any other country in the world”.
That’s the view of the man who was the head of the UK’s Foreign Office and Diplomatic service during Trump’s last state visit in 2019, as other British diplomatic insiders from the first Trump presidency say it’s essential he gets the honour again to keep onside “a man who changes his mind easily”.
Yes, we’ve seen Donald Trump in the UK for one of these before but brace yourselves for a supercharged state visit this coming week.
In April, Trump told reporters: “They’re going to do a second, as you know, a second fest… that’s what it is: a fest, and it’s beautiful, and it’s the first time it’s ever happened to one person.”
I wouldn’t be surprised if there were a few people in the Foreign Office and the palace who spat their tea into their china cups in surprise at that description, but it illustrated just how excited the president was and set the bar very high for what he expects.
Which is why they are literally rolling out all the red carpet they can find. The president and first lady are due to stay at Windsor Castle, they will get a carriage ride with the King and Queen, and we’ll see more military pageantry than we’ve seen for any other world leader on recent state visits.
Everything has been organised to be bigger and look more spectacular, and the White House will no doubt be delighted.
We have been here before. In 2019, it was a different monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, and a different location, Buckingham Palace. But again it was a huge display of how hard we were working to keep the US president on side.
Lord Simon McDonald was the permanent under-secretary at the Foreign Office and head of the Diplomatic Service at the time of that visit. He told me they didn’t have any trouble filling the seats for the “full monty” state banquet, and it was a trip that cemented President Trump’s relationship with the United Kingdom. “It’s not just about carriages and tiaras. It’s about the world agenda,” he said.
“India right now is suffering as a country because of a spat between Donald Trump and the prime minister of India. So, having Donald Trump in a positive frame of mind, I think, means that the UK has a better chance, probably a better bilateral relationship with the United States than any other country in the world.”
Keir Starmer, producing the invitation letter with such flourish from his inside top pocket in the Oval Office back in February, is another moment that may have made a few diplomats and palace staff splutter, with the King’s carefully chosen words wafted around for all the cameras to see.
The president was hosted by the Queen in June 2019. Pic: Reuters
But the main reason that would have made some cringe is that state visits are seen as the ultimate diplomatic gift. Hence, the questions over whether Donald Trump deserves the unprecedented honour of a second state visit.
But it is a powerful card that only the UK can play when we need to. And the government believes now is one of those moments.
Read more:
What we know about Donald Trump’s state visit to the UK
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Britain remains vulnerable with an unpredictable Trump
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Is the UK ready for a ‘Trump-fest’?
Lord Kim Darroch was the UK’s ambassador to the US at the time of Trump’s first state visit – a trip, where despite him criticising prime minister Theresa May in the run-up, the president “was absolute charm personified”.
He explained that this time, while the president is being wined and dined by the Royal Family, others will be pressing the flesh behind the scenes on matters of defence, business, and more.
“I mean, our relationship with Europe, with the European Union, is very important, but in terms of bilateral relationships, this is the biggest,” Lord Darroch told me. “If we had bad relations with the US, which translated into high tariffs, people would be losing their jobs in this country, and industries would be going bankrupt.
“So this is pure British interests at base. This really matters to us. We’ve made a good start for Donald Trump’s second term, but he’s a man who changes his mind easily.
“There’s always a threat of further tariffs out there. We need to keep that relationship as close as we can for the duration of his second term.”
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Is the UK ready for a ‘Trump-fest’?
Lord McDonald agrees and can understand why this visit has happened so quickly.
“Donald Trump, in his second administration, is doing things more quickly and more comprehensively than any of his predecessors. So getting in early, making your points effectively when there’s still three and a half years of the presidency to run, I think, is a better investment for the UK than waiting until the last six months he’s in office.”
It is still controversial, protests are planned, although the president won’t see them from the confines of Windsor Castle, where he’ll spend most of his time.
But the glamour of the castle can’t erase the backdrop of the recent Epstein scandal for both the UK government and the White House, and the ongoing geopolitical turmoil.
Donald Trump and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer at Trump International Golf Links in July 2025. Pic: PA
Trump won’t want any of that to overshadow his time with the Royal Family, but more of that may play out when he meets the prime minister at Chequers on Thursday.
However, author and journalist Michael Wolff, who has written several books on the president, including Fire And Fury, believes Trump will see this trip as a good distraction.
Wolff also travelled to the UK for the 2019 visit with Steve Bannon, the White House strategist fired by Trump. “One of the things is that (visit) left the president feeling great,” he said.
“Often, the president doesn’t feel great. He feels angry… So they were all grateful that the Queen had been nice to him.”
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Will Trump address parliament on UK state visit?
Talking about what we should expect this time, he told me: “Remember, Trump is a performer. It is all about Trump and Trump’s image.
“So what he’s looking for are some photo ops which are not just even helpful to him, but ones that can make him feel good, bolster the sense of himself. You know, I can’t see anything meaningful coming out of this on a policy basis or particularly on a political basis. I mean, this is a vanity trip.”
No doubt the US president will get the memories he wants, and this time everyone knows what to expect… who can forget the pictures of Trump walking in front of the Queen in 2018, even though that turned out to be Her Majesty’s mistake.
Once again, the interactions with the Royal Family will be something to behold – they always are on these state visits. Just look at those pictures of French President Emmanuel Macron winking at any royal he could clap eyes on during his recent state banquet.
But whether or not you agree that Trump deserves every bell and whistle of pageantry we can muster, ultimately the cost of it all has already been declared worth it in diplomatic circles before he’s even stepped off the plane.
