King Charles, Queen Camilla, William and Kate will welcome the Trumps at Windsor Castle as historic second state visit begins

The Prince and Princess of Wales will welcome Donald and Melania Trump to Windsor today as the US President’s historic second state visit gets underway.

Prince William and Kate will greet the Trumps in the Walled Garden on the Windsor estate when the President’s Marine One helicopter arrives just before midday.

In one of a number of flourishes being added to the American leader’s trip, the helicopter will land on the lawn of the garden nestled in the private Home Park.

William and Kate will greet the Trumps and walk a short distance with them to meet King Charles III and Queen Camilla outside Victoria House to launch the trip.

The Queen spent yesterday afternoon resting at Windsor Castle, having pulled out of attending the Duchess of Kent’s funeral at Westminster Cathedral after suffering from acute sinusitis – but royal aides said she had recovered to greet the Trumps today.

A decision was made to use the little-known Victoria House in the Royal Kitchen Gardens at Frogmore as the backdrop to the start of the major royal charm offensive.

This offers a personal, family-centred greeting especially for Mr Trump – but also embraces pomp and pageantry and the military theatrics he is known to adore.

There are no public-facing engagements for the President during his trip, with thousands expected to take part in major protests against his two-day stay.

US secretary of state Marco Rubio arrived on the Windsor estate by car ahead of Mr Trump’s arrival.

He shook hands with staff and surveyed the scene on the estate before heading inside a property to wait for the royal welcome.

Two sniper positions could be seen on a roof in the distance with security at peak levels.

A luxury coach bearing some of the US official suite including Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff Susie Wiles also arrived on the estate.

Increased numbers of plain clothes security gathered and milled around outside ready for the royal welcome.

At midday today, as Mr Trump shakes hands with the King, a 41-round gun salute will be fired from six First World War era guns simultaneously by The King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery on the East Lawn of Windsor Castle. 

The Honourable Artillery Company will also stage a salute more than 20 miles away at the Tower of London.

The scale and spectacle of the military ceremonial on show for Mr Trump is unprecedented and marks the largest military ceremonial welcome for a state visit to the UK in living memory.

In total, around 120 horses and 1,300 members of the British military will be involved in the ceremonial welcome at Windsor, with 160 personnel from the Royal Marines and Royal Navy, 1,000 from the British Army and 140 from the Royal Air Force. 

This is well in excess of the 850 who took part in French President Emmanuel Macron’s state visit in July. 

The Trumps are joining the King and Queen and William and Kate for a carriage procession through the Windsor estate towards the castle.

Eighty soldiers from the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment will form the Sovereign’s Escort travelling with the carriages, with the Life Guards dressed in their red tunics and white plumed helmets and Blues and Royals in their blue tunics and red plumes.

The processional route, which will not be open to the public, will be lined by 22 half-companies of personnel from throughout the Royal Navy, the Royal Marines, the British Army and the Royal Air Force.

As they make their way to the castle, the Trumps are expected to pass not far from Frogmore House, where Prince Harry and Meghan Markle had their evening wedding reception in May 2018.

They will also travel near Frogmore Cottage, briefly home to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex before they quit the working monarchy in 2020 and moved to America.

The gable-ended Victoria House was previously lived in by the former Head Gardener for the Royal Estate Thomas Ingram in the 19th century, and in recent years has provided accommodation for Household staff.

It was renovated using £800,000 of the taxpayer-funded Sovereign Grant for roof and masonry repairs between 2014-16.

The yellow-bricked Victoria House bears its construction date of 1844 on the front of the house.

On either side of the gravel drive leading out of the property are wrought iron domed plant supports where rose bushes, still showing the occasional pink bloom, are growing.

The walled garden, comprised of two large fields separated by a wire fence and surrounded by a red brick wall, in front of the house has never been used as a helicopter landing site before.

The carriages are scheduled to pass through the castle’s George IV Gate at 12.15pm, ready for the full ceremonial welcome in the quadrangle with a Guard of Honour.

A gigantic royal standard, which is used for royal celebration days, was flying from the Royal Tower at the castle.

The King and Donald Trump will travel in the Irish State Coach in the first carriage.

The Queen and the First Lady will follow in the second carriage, the Scottish State Coach.

The Prince and the Princess of Wales will travel together in the third carriage, the Semi-State Landau, with the US ambassador to the UK Warren Stephens and his wife.

In the fourth carriage, an Ascot Landau, will be US secretary of state Marco Rubio, US secretary of the treasury Scott Bessent, assistant to the president and chief of staff Susie Wiles and assistant to the president and special envoy for peace missions Steve Witkoff.

In the fifth carriage, another Ascot Landau, will be assistant to the president and deputy chief of staff for operations Beau Harrison, assistant to the president and deputy chief of staff for strategic implementation Nicholas Luna, assistant to the president and deputy chief of staff for strategic implementation Dan Scavino and Hayley Harrison, assistant to the president and chief of staff to the First Lady.

The State Colours of the Grenadier Guards, Coldstream Guards and Scots Guards will greet the party – the first time that three State Colours, rather than just one, will be on parade at such an occasion.

The UK and US national anthems will be performed during the welcome.

Lieutenant Colonel Storm Green, a South African officer of the Coldstream Guards in the British Army, said there were ‘nerves’ before commanding the guard of honour at Windsor Castle.

Lt Col Green will give the guard of honour’s commands during the ceremonies before inviting President Trump to inspect the troops.

He said: ‘There are some nerves but that sort of apprehension makes you feel alive and like it’s an important event, which it is.’

He went on: ‘It’s certainly the biggest state visit that I’ve taken part in, so there’s been a bit more rehearsal than normal, slightly different movements and dimensions I suppose than usual.

‘So lots of rehearsal, lots of shining of kits, lots of discussion, lots of co-ordination behind the scenes, which luckily isn’t my role today because that’s definitely the most difficult bit of it, so plenty of preparation.’

He added: ‘Big events like this, even if you have a small role, you obviously want to do it well and show yourself off, show your organisation off and show your country off in best possible light, so I’m keen to get it right.’

After the welcome, members of the Royal Family will join the Trumps in the State Dining Room and the visitors will be taken to see a special display of Royal Collection items that relate to the US, in the Green Drawing Room.

In a private moment, Mr and Mrs Trump will visit the late Queen Elizabeth II’s tomb in St George’s Chapel, Windsor, and lay a wreath. It will be followed by a short tour of the chapel and a musical performance from the chapel choir.

Later this afternoon, a group of 200 military musicians will perform a rendition of Beating Retreat on the East Lawn of Windsor Castle, watched by spectators including UK and US military personnel and military families.

Beating Retreat is a military spectacle and ceremony that originated in the early years of organised warfare and symbolises the end of the day when camp gates were closed and ceremonial flags were lowered.

It takes place on Horse Guards Parade every year in June, when the salute is taken by a member of the Royal Family.

Mr Trump will then be treated to a flypast by the Red Arrows and UK and US F-35 military jets on the east lawn at Windsor Castle.

The four Lightnings will demonstrate the close ties between the UK and US Armed Forces and comprise two F-35B from number 207 Squadron, the UK’s F-35B Operational Conversion Unit based at RAF Marham, and two F-35As from the 493rd Fighter Squadron, US Air Force, based at RAF Lakenheath.

It will be the first time US and UK aircraft have flown together for such a visit – which the Ministry of Defence said was a demonstration of the strength of the UK-US defence and security relationship.

The RAF is to be equipped with 12 new F-35A aircraft – the jet flown by the US air force in the flypast, it was announced in June.

This evening, Mr and Mrs Trump will be wined and dined at a sumptuous white tie state banquet at Windsor Castle.

Royal hospitality at its most meticulous and lavish will be deployed in honour of the Trumps as they join some 160 guests in the impressive St George’s Hall for the extravagant feast.

Every element of the banquet is checked and approved by the King, down to the very last detail.

Charles and the Queen usually inspect the table beforehand in person, making their way round the room in the afternoon and examining the preparations with the Master of the Household, Vice-Admiral Sir Tony Johnstone-Burt.

In a tradition started by the King, a bespoke cocktail will be created specially for the occasion, no doubt celebrating the ‘special relationship’ between the UK and the US.

For French President Emmanuel Macron’s state dinner, the alcoholic tipple was named L’entente – in a nod to the L’Entente Cordiale – and it combined British gin with lemon curd and French pastis and was garnished with dried French cornflowers and English roses, while the Japanese state visit was honoured with a yuzu marmalade sour, featuring whisky and marmalade and resembling the flag of Japan.

Mr Trump is a teetotaller so will not indulge in sampling the variety of vintage wines on offer, nor the cocktail unless it is alcohol-free.

Preparations for a state banquet start six months before the big event and it usually takes household staff around three days to lay the table.

Guests – who have been invited on the basis of their cultural, diplomatic or economic links to the US – will dine on an exquisite menu, written in French, prepared by royal chefs and served on historic, priceless dinner sets.

Former US president Barack Obama’s state banquet in 2011 was sprinkled with Hollywood stardust, with a guest list including actor Tom Hanks, actress Helena Bonham Carter and director Tim Burton.

But the dinner for Mr Trump’s last state visit in 2019 was more trade and business rather than showbusiness.

The King and Queen will head members of the royal family, with the Prince of Wales expected to attend, and the Princess of Wales likely, but not yet confirmed, to join him, along with other Windsors.

The monarch will be seated next to Mr Trump in the middle of one side of the table, with Mrs Trump and Camilla opposite them on the other side.

At Mr Macron’s banquet, Kate was seated next to the president at his right hand side, while William was opposite, next to France’s First Lady Brigitte Macron.

Other royals will be spread around the table between the guests.

Much has shifted within the royal family over the last six years amid a change in reign, the occurrence of royal scandal, and the passing of time.

Absent will be the disgraced Duke of York, who attended last time but since then was forced to step down from the working monarchy over his friendship with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.

The attending royals have yet to be announced, but at the last state banquet for Mr Trump, there were 16 family members.

The late Queen Elizabeth II, who hosted the occasion in 2019, died three years ago.

The Duke of Kent is grieving his wife the Duchess of Kent, whose funeral took place yesterday, and Princess Alexandra is now frail and has not attended banquets for several years.

Missing too will be Lord Mandelson, who was sacked as US ambassador by the Prime Minister just days before the event, after it emerged he sent supportive messages to sex offender Epstein.

Sir Keir Starmer, who is facing a challenging week amid the furore over Lord Mandelson, the fallout of Angela Rayner’s resignation and frustrations from MPs, will be expected to put on his white tie and tails and turn up to join the guests.

But Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey is boycotting the banquet in a protest against Mr Trump’s position on Gaza.

Royal chef Mark Flanagan and his team of 20 chefs will serve seasonal produce, sourced from royal estates.

Charles and Camilla will have selected the final menu, which will be expected to include a nod to the US, from a series of four alternatives.

 

Seasonal flowers handpicked from the gardens at Windsor Castle and Windsor Great Park will be on show arranged in elaborate displays along the table in silver-gilt centrepieces.

After the banquet, the flowers are usually donated to Floral Angels, a charity of which Camilla is patron, which delivers the blooms to hospices, elderly care homes and shelters.

The impressive St George’s Hall is the largest room in the castle at 55.5 metres long (180ft) and nine metres wide (29.5ft), and the 50 metre (164ft) table stretches its full length.

The castle’s staff will have started constructing the mahogany table almost a week ago.

Tablecloths and napkins – folded in the shape of a Dutch bonnet – cruet sets, elaborate floral decorations, priceless plates, candelabra and six glasses – for water, a champagne toast, red and white wines, a dessert wine and port – will all have carefully been put in order.

Every place setting must be precisely 18 inches apart – with measuring sticks used to ensure absolute precision.

The footmen and women must make sure every chair is exactly the same distance from the table and each glass is the same distance from the front edge of the table.

Some 19 stations are set up around the edge of the room, each manned by four staff – a page, footman, under butler and a wine butler – who use a traffic light system to co-ordinate the serving of courses.

Detailed diagrams are used to illustrate the serving plans and a list of special instructions sets out any dietary requirements and requests for royals and other guests.

Staff must also put in place a special cushion on the King’s seat to ease his long-standing back issues.

Charles also likes a bowl of olive oil, rather than butter pats, at his setting for his bread.

The dress code is tiaras and white tie – or national dress.

Members of the Royal Family wear sashes and badges known as orders if they have been given them in recognition of royal service.

Speeches take place at the start at around 8.30pm when the King and Mr Trump will both make a speech and propose toasts to one another, followed by the playing of the national anthems. 

The banquet will feature performances by the Duchess of Edinburgh’s String Orchestra and The State Trumpeters of the Household Cavalry. 

The hall’s gothic style ceiling with impressive oak beam roof is studded with the coats of arms of every single Knight of the Garter since the order was founded in 1348.

Its walls and ceiling were decimated in the Windsor Castle fire of 1992 and had to be painstakingly rebuilt.

Just before the banquet begins, members of the royal family will be lined up to be personally introduced to Mr Trump and First Lady Melania.

Then, the King and Queen and the American couple will be formally introduced to and shake hands with each and every guest as they file into the ballroom.

The King and the president will then make their way into the room side by side.

The end of the banquet is signalled by the arrival of 12 pipers processing round the room, a tradition started by Queen Victoria. The pipers from the Scots Guards will play traditional Scottish airs.

Mr Trump will hold talks with Sir Keir at the Prime Minister’s country residence Chequers tomorrow, with aviators from RAF Halton lining the route as he arrives.

He will also be treated to an air display by the British Army’s Red Devils Parachute Display Team and a performance by two RAF pipers at Chequers.

The US leader was greeted by Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper as well as RAF personnel from The King’s Colour Squadron forming a guard of honour as he arrived yesterday evening at London Stansted Airport in Essex.

He then took the Marine One helicopter to Winfield House in London’s Regent’s Park, where he stayed the night.

Mr Trump told reporters that Mr Stephens was ‘doing really well’ and said the ‘relationships are great’.

Asked about his feelings towards the UK, he said: ‘I love it. I love Turnberry, I love Aberdeen. I have a lot of things here that warm my heart. I want to tell you. It’s a very special place.’

Talking about his relationship with the King, he added: ‘He’s been a friend of mine for a long time, and everybody respects him, and they love him.’

Mr Trump also said it was a ‘great honour’ to be the first US president to have two state visits and to be hosted at ‘the ultimate’ Windsor Castle.

Outside Windsor Castle this morning, Kaya Mar, an artist from Spain who now lives in South East London, said he had made a dozen paintings of Mr Trump – including one depicting him as a caveman which he displayed.

He told the Mail: ‘The man is a narcissist. He will hijack the occasion, he will hijack the protocol, he won’t have any regard for his host.’

The artist claimed the second state visit was a ‘bribe’ for a good trade deal with the US, but the event made a ‘clown’ of the King.

He added: ‘The Government wants to have a good trade relationship and how they get that is a bribe – and today is that bribe. That’s the desperation of the UK. Every country works in the national interest but there’s no need to make a clown of yourself. We shouldn’t trust him.’

The father-of-two said his provocative painting had not attracted the attention of the police this morning, and he had no plans to stage a vocal protest aimed at any dignitaries.

He said: ‘You just have to show people the truth.’

Another protester in Windsor said: ‘I am here to show my absolute disgust for Trump. We should not be doing this.’

But Trump supporter Martin Taylor, 44, said he had visited Windsor to show ‘great support’ for the relationship.

He said: ‘Trump is my hero. I love him. I think Britain loves him and he loves Britain. This is the highlight of my year.’

A few hundred people were gathered by Windsor Castle in total.

Some wore ‘Make America Great Again’ caps, while one man wore a hat saying ‘Trump was right about everything’.

Others held US flags and pro-Trump banners.

The Metropolitan Police said it was prepared for ‘a significant operation’ with as many as 50 protest groups expected to take part in today’s march in central London.

More than 1,600 officers were being deployed today, including 500 assisting from other forces, Scotland Yard said.

Green Party leader Zack Polanski said he would be ‘standing up to the bully Donald Trump and his poodle, Nigel Farage’ before joining protesters in London later today.

The Green firebrand, who is in the line-up for a rally on Parliament Square organised by the Stop Trump Coalition, said: ‘Donald Trump comes to Britain seeking credibility and to whitewash his own complicity in the genocide unfolding in Gaza.

‘While the vast majority unite against Trump and everything he stands for, there will be one man who wants us to welcome him with open arms: Nigel Farage.

‘Farage pretends to be a man of the people, but he’s really just a man of the super rich. Like Trump he seeks power, influence and money over all else.

‘Our country has a proud tradition of standing up for the underdog. Today, that means standing alongside every child in Gaza; with all those in detention camps on the borders of the United States and with each and every one of those growing up in poverty here in Britain. And standing up to the bully Donald Trump and his poodle, Nigel Farage.’

A small group of campaigners from the Stop Trump Coalition were in Windsor yesterday evening protesting the visit.

The man and woman chanted ‘how many will you kill if you drill baby drill’ and unfurled a banner that said: ‘Oily Money Kills’ at the event in Windsor Guildhall.

Thames Valley Police said the pair were removed by the event organisers and no arrests were made.

The force said it arrested four people on suspicion of malicious communications after images of the US President and Epstein were projected onto Windsor Castle, and two men for breaching airspace restrictions in place for Mr Trump’s visit.

Chief Superintendent Felicity Parker said: ‘We take any unauthorised activity around Windsor Castle extremely seriously. Our officers responded swiftly to stop the projection and four people have been arrested.

‘We are conducting a thorough investigation with our partners into the circumstances surrounding this incident and will provide further updates when we are in a position to do so.’

Political campaign group Led By Donkeys shared an image of the stunt to Instagram with the caption ‘Hey Donald, welcome to Windsor Castle’.

Following the incident, a Cabinet minister said protests against Mr Trump’s state visit were ‘perhaps inevitable’ but the US President and Sir Keir ‘won’t let any of that distract them’.

Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said she had not seen reports of the projection incident, but told LBC: ‘In today’s world, many of these things are perhaps inevitable, but they won’t let any of that distract them.

‘They both want to deliver for their countries and their people.’

Also last night, two protesters from the activist group Fossil Free London were escorted out of a dinner organised by Republicans Overseas UK in Windsor.

The man and woman chanted ‘how many will you kill if you drill baby drill’ and unfurled a banner that said: ‘Oily Money Kills’.

A Thames Valley Police spokesperson said: ‘We received a report of a public order incident at a private event in Windsor Guildhall at approximately 8.45pm.

‘Two individuals were removed by the event organisers and no arrests were made.’

London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan, who has previously been criticised by Mr Trump as ‘a nasty person’ who has ‘done a terrible job’ said last night that ‘President Donald Trump and his coterie have perhaps done the most to fan the flames of divisive, far-right politics around the world in recent years’. 

Writing in the Guardian, Sir Sadiq added: ‘We must also tell President Trump and his supporters to stop talking down and denigrating our great capital city. 

‘London is a global success story, no matter how much he wants to pretend otherwise. It’s open, dynamic and safer than every US state in terms of homicide rates.’

Meanwhile, it was revealed Britain and the US had struck a tech deal that could bring billions of pounds of investment to the UK.

Sir Keir said the agreement represented ‘a general step change’ in Britain’s relationship with the US that would deliver ‘growth, security and opportunity up and down the country’.

The ‘tech prosperity deal’ will see the UK and US co-operate in areas including artificial intelligence (AI), quantum computing and nuclear power.

It comes alongside £31billion of investment in Britain from America’s top technology companies, including £22 billion from Microsoft.

Microsoft’s investment, the largest ever made by the company in the UK, will fund an expansion of Britain’s AI infrastructure, which Labour sees as a key part of its efforts to secure economic growth, and the construction of the country’s largest AI supercomputer.

The build-up to Mr Trump’s second state visit has already seen London and Washington announce a deal on co-operating on building new nuclear power stations, and a £5billion investment by Google in Britain’s AI sector. 

It also follows the agreement of an economic deal in May this year that covered a reduction in some tariffs imposed by Mr Trump in April, although plans to eliminate US tariffs on British steel have now been shelved.

It emerged on the eve of Mr Trump’s visit that a proposed deal to secure the removal of the levy, which stands at 25 per cent, has been put on ice.

But the tech deal was praised by industry bosses, including Jensen Huang, founder of chip company Nvidia, which has agreed to deploy 120,000 advanced processors across the UK to help the British AI sector.

Other investments announced alongside the tech deal include:

• £1.5 billion from AI cloud computing company CoreWeave to expand data centre capacity and operations, including a partnership with UK firm DataVita
• £1.4 billion from Salesforce, aimed at making its UK business an AI hub for Europe, part of a £4.4 billion investment over the next five years
• More than £1 billion from UK-based AI Pathfinder to deliver additional compute capacity, starting in Northamptonshire

ChatGPT developer OpenAI has also agreed to partner with Nscale to deploy its Stargate data centre project at a new AI growth zone in the North East of England with sites in Blyth and Cobalt Park near Newcastle.