LONDON
\nUS President Donald Trump formally begins his unprecedented second state visit to Britain on Wednesday, with the royal pomp a grand veneer to key diplomatic talks and as difficult questions about Jeffrey Epstein linger.
\nKing Charles and the royal family rolled out the red carpet for the president when he arrived at Windsor Castle, the oldest and largest inhabited castle in the world and family home to British monarchs for almost 1,000 years, with a carriage procession, gun salutes, a military flypast and a lavish banquet.
\nBritain says it was the largest military ceremonial welcome for a state visit in living memory. Trump, an overt royal fan, has made little secret of his delight at being not just the first US leader, but the first elected politician to be invited by a British monarch for two visits. \u201cI Love King Charles,\u201d he posted on his Truth Social account in February.
\nOn his arrival, he said of Britain: \u201cIt\u2019s a very special place.\u201d UK hopes visit will cement \u2018special relationship\u2019 Prime Minister Keir Starmer is hoping to use that sentiment to Britain\u2019s advantage as his government seeks to use the trip to cement the two nations\u2019 \u201cspecial relationship\u201d, deepen economic ties, secure billions of dollars of investment, discuss tariffs and press the US president on Ukraine.
\nThe visit has already delivered a new technology pact between the two countries with companies from Microsoft to Nvidia, Google and OpenAI pledging 31 billion pounds ($42bn) in British investments over the next few years, in AI, quantum computing and civil nuclear energy. Starmer also wants further progress on tariffs.
\n\u201cBasically, I\u2019m there also on trade. They want to see if they can refine the trade deal a littlebit,\u201d Trump said when he left the White House for Britain on Tuesday. \u201cThey\u2019d like to see if they could get a little bit better deal, so we\u2019ll talk to them.\u201d
\nWhile security for the visit was tight, with a massive police operation in place in Windsor and 1,600 officers deployed in London to deal with a demonstration by the \u201cStop the Trump Coalition\u201d, protesters pulled off a stunt in Windsor.
\nPolice said four people were arrested for malicious communications on Tuesday after images of Trump alongside late sex offender Epstein were projected on to one of Windsor Castle\u2019s towers.
\nTrump was not in Windsor at the time.Starmer last week sacked Peter Mandelson as Britain\u2019s ambassador in Washington over his ties to Epstein, which could lead to awkward questions for Starmer and Trump, whose own relationship with the financier has also come under scrutiny.
\nLondon commuters had mixed views about Trump\u2019s state visit on Wednesday morning, with some angry about the invitation and others saying it was smart politics and a good use of Britain\u2019s soft power.\u201cWe\u2019re looking to sort of make the best of a bad situation,\u201d lawyer Kirstie Robertshaw, 54, said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LONDON US President Donald Trump formally begins his unprecedented second state visit to Britain on Wednesday, with the royal pomp a grand veneer to key diplomatic talks and as difficult questions about Jeffrey Epstein linger. King Charles and the royal family rolled out the red carpet for the president when he arrived at Windsor Castle, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":503516,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-503490","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n