King Charles III to host Trump in September for second U.K. state visit

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President Donald Trump will make a three-day state visit this fall to the United Kingdom, where he will be hosted by King Charles III, giving him the unprecedented distinction of being granted a second state visit.

Buckingham Palace announced Monday that Trump has accepted the king’s invitation to visit Britain from Sept. 17 to 19. He and first lady Melania Trump will be hosted at Windsor Castle, the palace added, with further details to be announced later.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer hand-delivered the invitation letter during a trip to the White House in February. Starmer read aloud a part of the invitation in front of cameras and said: “This is really special. This has never happened before. This is unprecedented.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation of the September visit.

Trump is a longtime fan of the British royal family. In March, he shared a post on Truth Social that read, “I love King Charles,” accompanied by an article from the Sun, a British tabloid. And in December, Trump met Prince William at the reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral, describing him as a “good man, this one.”

Trump’s first state visit to the U.K. was in June 2019, during his first term, under the reign of Queen Elizabeth II. That time, the president was greeted with elaborate pageantry – he landed on the Buckingham Palace lawn in Marine One, was honored with two 41-gun salutes, escorted by the queen through the palace picture gallery and treated to a glittering state banquet with fine china.

But it was not without controversy. Trump sparred with London’s Muslim mayor, Sadiq Khan, whom he called a “stone cold loser” – and short. The trip was also met with protests, and demonstrators in London floated a giant balloon that depicted Trump as a diaper-clad baby.

Trump remains deeply unpopular in Britain. An Ipsos poll in January, before the start of his second term, found that 63 percent of Britons hold an unfavorable opinion of Trump, with just 22 percent saying they viewed him favorably.

The time frame for the president’s visit makes it unlikely that he will have a chance to address Parliament, which is scheduled to be in recess, the Guardian and other British media reported.

Britain was the first country to clinch a trade deal with the United States after Trump announced tariffs on imports from more than 70 countries worldwide in early April. Although Trump’s 10 percent minimum tariff imposed on all countries remains in effect for Britain, The Washington Post reported that certain British exports – such as automobiles – would be spared higher tariffs.