The Queen 'to invite Donald Trump to visit Windsor Castle' in bid to cut out Farage

The Queen will reportedly invite Donald Trump to Windsor Castle as part of a Government strategy to foster closer ties with the President-elect.

Mr Trump will be welcomed as part of an official state visit in the summer of 2017, with plans in the process of being finalised by senior Whitehall officials.

An official invitation is expected to be sent to the White House following the Republican leader’s presidential inauguration on 20 January, with the Queen expected to send a congratulatory message.

Two ministers and a senior official close to Downing Street confirmed discussions with Mr Trump’s team were due to begin to ensure his availability for June or July next year.

A source from the Prime Minister’s office also confirmed that Mr Trump would visit in 2017, according to The Times.

Mr Trump has already met with one Briton following his election victory, Brexiteer Nigel Farage.

The pair – who have both sought to present themselves as “anti-establishment” – were photographed in front of a gold-plated lift at the meeting at Trump Tower in New York. Fellow Leave advocates Arron Banks, Andy Wigmore and Raheem Kassam were also in attendance.

One member of the group said Mr Trump was looking forward to meeting the Queen.

“He’s a massive Anglophile. He was really, really keen. His late mother, Mary, loved the Queen. He said, ‘I’m going to meet her, too. I can’t wait to come over to England. My mum would be chuffed to bits when I meet the Queen’,” he said.

The Queen has been labelled Theresa May’s “secret weapon” to encourage closer ties between the UK and the US, one the Prime Minister will be eager to deploy faced with Mr Farage’s closeness to the president.

A source The Times: “The Government has decided that their secret weapon to get in with Trump is to offer him an early visit to the Queen, him and Melania staying at Windsor Castle.”

Another cabinet source said: “The Queen is the key here. She’s not a secret weapon, she’s the biggest public weapon you have. Nigel Farage can’t get [Trump] in front of the Queen.”

In their first official phone call, Mr Trump told Ms May that his Scottish mother had been a royalist and reportedly asked Ms May to pass on his best wishes to the Queen.

Full details of the visit have reportedly not been disclosed as a matter of protocol, ahead of Ms May’s meeting with Barack Obama in Berlin on Friday.

“I know that there are plans for a state visit,” the official said.

“They didn’t want to say it because it’s disrespectful to Obama, but once Trump is in they’ll move quickly in No 10. London in summer is a very attractive place for anyone to come. It will be the first offer.”

A spokesperson for Buckingham Palace said the details of the visit would rest with the Government.

“State visits and other meetings with overseas heads of state are organised on the advice of the Government,” they said.

Last week, Downing Street announced the President-elect had urged the Prime Minister to meet him in Washington “as soon as possible” after his inauguration next year.

However, Ms May’s office faced embarrassment when it emerged Donald Trump had extended a much more casual invitation allegedly saying: “If you travel to the US, you should let me know.”

The news followed reports that Britain had been near the “back of the queue” of countries the newly-elected president spoke with following his victory.

Before contacting Ms May, Mr Trump spoke with nine world leaders in Egypt, Ireland, Mexico, Israel, Turkey, India, Japan, Australia and South Korea.

A No 10 spokesperson said: “We gave a readout at the time – I am not going to elaborate on that anymore.

“The invitation from the President-elect was a very warm invitation to come and see him as soon as is possible.”