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The royal family is expected to play a key part in facilitating the UK’s “special relationship” with the US as Donald Trump begins his second term as president.
Mr Trump, who will be sworn into office on Monday, is well known for his love of the monarchy having boasted he had “automatic chemistry” with late Queen, and hailed King Charles as a “really wonderful guy”.
It is believed the Labour government is taking full advantage of the incoming president’s fondness for the royals, as it lines up senior member of the family to embark on a tour of the United States.
“Donald Trump has a clear affinity for the royal family,” A senior UK government source told The Times. “He had a great relationship with the late Queen, recently met Prince William and has spoken highly of King Charles. A royal tour to the US would help reinforce the ‘special relationship’.”
The tour could possibly coincide with celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of American independence between Memorial Day in May 2025 and July 4 2026.
Trump has said he had planned to invite world leaders to the events, but has not specified who. The late Queen Elizabeth was a guest at the country’s 200th anniversary in 1976.
Another option for a royal visit could be the 2026 world cup which the US will host alongside Mexico and Canada. As an avid football fan and former president of the FA, this could mark the perfect opportunity for Prince William to meet Mr Trump once again.
Weeks after he won the US election, Trump met Prince William during the ceremonial reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral in December last year. Speaking to the New York Post, he said of the Prince: “He’s a very handsome man. Some people look better in person, and he looked great.”
The move to charm Mr Trump comes as the fallout over Labour sending 100 volunteers to help his Democrat rival Ms Harris and the government’s online battle with Elon Musk – who has been selected to run the newly-created Department of Government Efficiency.
In December, a diplomat told The Independent: “Labour is deliberately using Britain’s soft power with Prince William and King Charles front and centre as a bridge to create a good relationship with Trump. He loves the royal family and it is the best way to his heart. All this also recognising that Starmer can’t and won’t use Farage.”
The Trump adviser confirmed: “He really does love the royal family. He revered the late Queen [Elizabeth II].”
Mr Trump has been a regular visitor to the UK, and enjoyed a state visit in 2019, attending a banquet at Buckingham Palace hosted by the late Queen Elizabeth II.
Mr Trump has often spoken of his bond with Elizabeth II, claiming they had an “automatic chemistry”.
But author Craig Brown, in his new biography A Voyage Around The Queen, has since claimed that the monarch found Mr Trump “very rude”. She is said to have “particularly disliked” the way he “couldn’t stop looking over her shoulder, as though in search of others more interesting”.
Mr Trump and the King, as the Prince of Wales, have met several times, although not since Charles acceded to the throne in 2022, with Mr Trump’s first term as American leader ending in 2021.
But they appear to be on friendly terms, with the incoming-First Lady Melania Trump wrote in her recent memoir that she and her husband have an ongoing correspondence with the monarch.
“Our friendship with the royal family continues and we exchange letters with King Charles to this day,” she said.
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