Trump's state visit is mired with potential pitfalls despite careful planning
15 September 2025 Share Save James Landale Diplomatic correspondent Share Save
BBC
Listen to James read this article US President Donald Trump's state visit to the United Kingdom this week will be no stranger to controversy, just as his first was six years ago. Back then, in June 2019, as well as taking tea with the late Queen, the US President called London Mayor Sadiq Khan "a stone-cold loser", backed Boris Johnson in a Tory leadership race and suggested the NHS should be part of US-UK trade talks. All this was accompanied by a petition saying he should not receive a state visit in the UK, signed by more than one million people, as well as noisy protests involving thousands and a huge inflatable effigy that became known as the Trump Baby. This week's second state visit – unprecedented for a non-royal - will prove the first was no exception.
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images Trump being invited for a second state visit is unprecedented for a non-royal (pictured above during his previous visit, with First Lady Melania, in 2019)
There will again be protests and Lord Mandelson's sacking as UK ambassador to the US has already cast a diplomatic pall over proceedings. Planning for the visit - over Wednesday and Thursday - has gone on for months, but for all the careful preparation, the possibility that things could go wrong is still very real. And for many of those organising it, the Mandelson affair is only one of their worries.
How Windsor became 'Trumpton'
For those at the royal end of the show, the focus has been on logistics and security - and turning Windsor Castle into a ring of steel hard enough to satisfy even the most fastidious secret service agents. Such has been the huge American presence some locals have renamed Windsor "Trumpton", after the eponymous town in the 1970s children's TV show.
Mark Kerrison/In Pictures via Getty Images Detailed planning for the visit has gone on for months, down to banquet menus, seating plans and wording of the King's seven-minute speech
For Palace officials, attention to detail is all. One of the biggest problems has been finding a place to muster the Household Cavalry. It needs to be far enough from the helicopter landing zones to ensure the horses are not spooked by the noise, close enough to form the escort quickly that will accompany the Trumps' carriage procession through the grounds of Windsor Castle. There has also been much discussion between the Palace and Foreign Office over who sits where at the State Banquet in St George's Hall. "The value of these things are not just the photo opportunities but also all the off-grid conversations," said one royal insider. "A huge amount of attention goes into the seating plan for the banquet. So people with certain policy areas are sat next to one another."
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