President Trump will make a two-day state visit to Britain from Sept. 17 to 19, Buckingham Palace confirmed on Sunday, making him a rare head of state to be accorded a second such visit. King Charles III will play host to Mr. Trump and his wife, Melania, at Windsor Castle, the palace said in a statement.
The king issued Mr. Trump a formal invitation last February in a letter presented to him by Prime Minister Keir Starmer during a visit to the Oval Office. Mr. Starmer played up the unusual nature of the repeat invitation, saying, “This has never happened before; this is unprecedented.”
Mr. Trump relished his last state visit to Britain, in 2019, when he was hosted by Queen Elizabeth II. The queen threw him a lavish banquet at Buckingham Palace and gave him a royal artillery salute. In a documentary about his political comeback, “The Art of the Surge,” Mr. Trump showed off a book of photos of himself and the queen, “who was fantastic, by the way,” he said.
But Mr. Trump picked a fight with London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, who is Muslim, just before his arrival, calling him a “stone cold loser” on social media and accusing him of doing a terrible job of running Britain’s capital city.
Mr. Khan had described Mr. Trump as “just one of the most egregious examples of a growing global threat,” likening the president’s language to that used by “fascists of the 20th century.” He remains mayor and there is little indication that their mutual antipathy has softened.
The timing of Mr. Trump’s visit makes it unlikely he will be accorded the honor of delivering a speech to Parliament, several British papers reported. It is usually not in session in late September because the country’s political parties hold their annual policy conferences during that period.
That could set up an awkward contrast with the visit of President Emmanuel Macron of France, who spoke to Parliament during his state visit last week.
Like Mr. Macron, Mr. Trump will be hosted at Windsor Castle rather than Buckingham Palace, which is undergoing major renovations.
Mark Landler is the London bureau chief of The Times, covering the United Kingdom, as well as American foreign policy in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. He has been a journalist for more than three decades.
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