King Charles rolls out the red carpet to woo Trump

This week the British government will play its royal Trump card.

- Max Colchester,Robbie Gramer & Tarini Parti

King Charles III , Prince William and more than 1,500 soldiers will welcome President Trump to Windsor Castle on Wednesday in an effort to butter up the U.S. president and cement a diplomatic relationship with the most Anglophile U.S. leader in decades.

Over two days, the grounds around the thousand-year-old castle will be turned into a regal theme park, where Trump and the first lady will travel in a horse-drawn carriage to the sound of military bands, witness firing cannons and a flyover, and be the guests of honor at a lavish banquet. In doing so, Trump will be the first U.S. president to have had two such state visits organized in his honor, after a previous trip to Buckingham Palace in 2019.

The rollout of this royal red carpet is already having its desired effect. Trump gushed about his coming trip in remarks to reporters on Sunday evening, pointing out that he was making royal history. “They've never done it before, twice honored,” he said. “It’s going to be very exciting.”

For the British government, which decides who gets such state visits, much is at stake. The U.K. government has so far leveraged Trump’s soft spot for Britain to try to navigate his global trade war, securing an early tariffs deal that is so far lower than the levies outlined for most other countries. Prime Minister Keir Starmer is hoping that a renewed dose of pomp and ceremony will soften Trump up for further hardheaded discussions around steel tariffs and efforts to bolster U.S. support for European security when the two men hold a bilateral meeting on Thursday.

“Starmer is using the U.K. monarchy as a diplomatic arsenal very effectively, and that may have helped him avoid the worst social-media tirades or harsher tariffs in the trade war,” said Lewis Lukens, a former career U.S. ambassador who served as a senior U.S. Embassy official in London during Trump’s first term. “Trump does have a soft spot for the U.K. and for the royal family.”