President Donald Trump on Friday, arrived Windsor Castle on Friday with First Lady Melania Trump for a scheduled meeting over tea with Queen Elizabeth II.
Upon arrival at the queen’s Berkshire residence, the royal, donning a periwinkle lace coat and matching hat, greeted the couple at the Quadrangle of Windsor Castle. Donald Trump and his wife subsequently treated to a royal salute by the Guard of Honor, made up of 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards, as the United States national anthem was played by a revered military marching band. He and Queen Elizabeth II then walked side by side as they inspected the guard.
Trump is the fourth United States president the queen has received at Windsor Castle since the 1980s. She welcomed former presidents Ronald Reagan, George Bush and Barack Obama in 1982, 2008 and 2016 respectively.
If Trump’s visit is anything like Bush’s was, the trio will sit down in the White Drawing Room, where they will enjoy a traditional English spread featuring tea, small sandwiches and cakes.
The president’s visit to England has not been a welcome one for some citizens as thousands of protesters have gathered in London to march in objection of the American politician.
Meanwhile, at almost exactly the same time as the pageantry in Windsor unfolded, back in Washington Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced charges against 12 Russian intelligence officers for hacking offenses during the 2016 presidential election. The indictments are part of the ongoing special counsel probe into potential coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia – a probe regularly denounced by the president.
The meeting between the Trumps and the queen took place against a backdrop of the president’s critical comments about Prime Minister Theresa May and London Mayor Sadiq Khan, the teetering Tory government, its ongoing infighting over Brexit and Trump’s own suggestions to May about how to achieve the divorce from the European Union.
