The President of the United States of America, President Donald J. Trump, accompanied by Mrs Melania Trump, has accepted an invitation from Her Majesty The Queen to pay a State Visit to the United Kingdom from Monday 3rd June to Wednesday 5th June 2019, Buckingham Palace announced Tuesday.
Though many other American presidents have visited the monarch, only two — George W. Bush and Barack Obama — were honored with a state visit, which typically features ceremonial greetings, a horse-drawn carriage ride and a banquet with the queen at Buckingham Palace.
It’s rare for a state visit to be announced just a few weeks before it takes place, but this one has been contentious ever since Prime Minister Theresa May invited Trump soon after his inauguration in January 2017, AP reported.
The trip has been deferred amid concerns about the president’s reception in the U.K. and Britain’s extended crisis over Brexit, which has consumed most of the government’s political energy.
In addition to meeting with the queen, Trump will also hold talks with May, whose handling of Brexit he has repeatedly criticized.
The president has said he gave May advice on how to negotiate Britain’s exit from the European Union, but she didn’t listen. May has said Trump advised her to sue the EU.
Trump has also said May’s proposed Brexit deal, which calls for Britain to retain close economic and regulatory ties with the EU, would likely scupper the chances of a U.K.-U.S. free trade deal.
It hasn’t been announced whether Trump will address Parliament, an honor granted to presidents including Ronald Reagan and Obama.
May said in a statement that Britain and the U.S. “have a deep and enduring partnership that is rooted in our common history and shared interests.”