Prince Charles to Host President Trump for Tea During June State Visit
Prince Charles will host President Donald Trump for tea during the U.S. President’s state visit to the U.K next month. It will be the first time the heir to the throne will meet Trump since he was elected in 2016.
The meeting will take place at Clarence House, an official royal residence. The pair previously met in 2005 when Charles, 72, and his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, 71, travelled to the U.S.
By invitation from Queen Elizabeth, Trump and First Lady Melania Trump, are scheduled to travel to the U.K. from June 3 to 5 for a state visit, a grandiose event that involves a carriage ride through London and a banquet at Buckingham Palace. Charles will be joined at the state banquet on June 3 by Prince William and Duchess Kate, but not the Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Duke and Duchess of Suffolk, who just had their first baby.
There’s certainly potential for awkwardness given that Prince Charles and Trump have opposing views on environmental issues. While the royal often raises awareness about problems related to climate change and sustainability, Trump has mocked climate change, calling it a “hoax.” In 2017 he said the U.S. would pull out of the Paris Agreement, an environmental pact signed by 195 countries dealing with migration, greenhouse gas emissions, adaptation and financing.
The White House has already announced that the president will meet with the queen and British Prime Minister Theresa May, who plans to attend a ceremony with Trump to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings.
Trump’s visit in London in July 2018 sparked mass protests in central London. Activists launched a six-meter blimp depicting the U.S. President as a diaper-wearing orange baby outside Britain’s Parliament. If protesters can raise 30,000 pounds ($38,000) for advocacy groups, the blimp will be raised again next month.
