Trump will meet the Queen during UK visit, says US ambassador
'Meeting Her Majesty is the most important thing, because she’s the head of state, and from then on, it’ll be what the president wants to do'
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump will meet the Queen when he visits Britain next month, the US ambassador to the UK has said.
The president’s itinerary has not yet been finalised but will include a meeting with the monarch, Robert Wood Johnson told Sky News.
Mr Trump’s working trip to Britain on 13 July will be his first visit to the country since he was elected in 2016.
It is not a formal visit at the invitation of the UK’s head of state, so the pair would not necessarily have to meet.
However, asked by Kay Burley if Mr Trump would see the Queen, the US ambassador said: “Yes, yes, I mean he has to see the head of state. Putting his foot on British soil, it’s job one, it’s very important, very symbolic.
“Meeting Her Majesty is the most important thing, because she’s the head of state, and from then on, it’ll be what the president wants to do.”
The pair are expected to meet at Windsor Castle, which is listed as closed to the public on 13 July.
A Buckingham Palace spokeswoman declined to comment on the US ambassador’s comments or whether the Queen would meet Mr Trump.
The president is thought likely to avoid London during his flying visit, which seems certain to be greeted by huge protests.
On Wednesday Theresa May refused to cancel Mr Trump’s visit amid growing anger over his administration’s policy of separating migrant children from their parents and incarcerating them in cages at the US border.
Bowing to growing pressure to speak out, the president condemned the practice as “wrong” and vowed to challenge him next month.
“When we disagree with the United States, we tell them so,” she told MPs. “But we also have key shared interests. It is right that we are able to sit down and discuss those with the president – a president of a country with which we will continue to have a long-standing special relationship.”
Mr Trump had been due to visit the UK in February but cancelled the trip amid reports he was concerned about receiving a hostile reception.
He claimed he had decided not to fly to Britain because he disapproved of the location of the new US embassy, which he had been scheduled to open.
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