President Trump and his wife Melania were greeted by Queen Elizabeth as they arrived at Buckingham Palace on Monday to start a largely ceremonial visit to Britain.
President Trump started his state visit to the UK by insulting Mayor of London Sadiq Khan on Twitter. Calling the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan a "stone cold loser" who has done a "terrible job.". The president's comments come after Sadiq Khan said that Trump shouldn't have been offered a state visit.
.@SadiqKhan, who by all accounts has done a terrible job as Mayor of London, has been foolishly “nasty” to the visiting President of the United States, by far the most important ally of the United Kingdom. He is a stone cold loser who should focus on crime in London, not me......
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 3, 2019
He then goes on to compare Khan to the Mayor of NYC "Khan reminds me very much of our very dumb and incompetent Mayor of NYC, de Blasio, who has also done a terrible job — only half his height," he wrote.
....Kahn reminds me very much of our very dumb and incompetent Mayor of NYC, de Blasio, who has also done a terrible job - only half his height. In any event, I look forward to being a great friend to the United Kingdom, and am looking very much forward to my visit. Landing now!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 3, 2019
Over the weekend, Trump endorsed former London Mayor Boris Johnson who is currently the favorite to succeed Conservative party leader and Prime Minister Theresa May, who is stepping down as party leader Friday.
That didn't stop the Queen from rolling out the red carpet.
Prince Charles and his wife Camilla welcomed the Trumps before they met the Queen as they disembarked from Marine One, the presidential helicopter, in the Queen's back garden.
Royal gun salutes were fired from nearby Green Park and from the Tower of London as part of the pageantry accompanying an official state visit, one of the highest honours Britain can bestow on a foreign leader.
The ceremony took place under clear blue skies on the spacious garden next to the 775-room palace that is the official residence of the Queen. Trump and Charles inspected the Guard of Honour formed by the Grenadier Guards wearing the traditional bearskin hats.
The agenda for Trump's weeklong journey is largely ceremonial:
- A state visit and an audience with Queen Elizabeth in London.
- D-Day commemoration ceremonies on both sides of the English Channel.
- His first presidential visit to Ireland, which will include a stay at his coastal golf club.
On his most recent European visit, last November in France, Trump was heavily criticized for skipping a ceremony at an American military cemetery to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War when rain grounded his helicopter. European leaders, meanwhile, stood in the rain to honour the dead.
The Meghan Markle Debacle
When President Donald Trump gets together with members of the British royal family at Buckingham Palace Monday, he won’t be meeting the family’s newest member, Meghan Markle.
The U.S.-born former TV actress is not on the list of royals who are expected to greet the president and his wife Melania Trump at the palace or sit down with them for a private lunch, according to the BBC. Queen Elizabeth, of course, will be there. So will Prince Charles, Camilla, Prince William, Kate Middleton and Meghan’s husband Prince Harry.
In the interview with The Sun, Trump weighed in on the American-born Duchess of Sussex. The former Meghan Markle was critical of Trump in the past, prompting the president to tell the tabloid, "I didn't know that she was nasty." He said later in the interview that he thought Markle would be "very good" as a royal. Trump also said that it's great to have an 'American princess'.
Trump's daughter Ivanka just had a princess moment too as she took to Buckingham Palace balcony with her husband Jared Kushner.
Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner stand on Buckingham Palace balcony. #TrumpUKVisit https://t.co/lO6nAfwNye pic.twitter.com/rW5XsZRSZu
— The Hill (@thehill) June 3, 2019
