The Trumps Stop for Tea with Charles and Camilla Before Palace Reception with the Queen
During their latest trip to the U.K., President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump again stopped for tea with Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, at the royals’ London residence ahead of a reception at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday night.
After a morning of meetings, the president and first lady were nearly an hour behind schedule when they arrived at Clarence House for their visit and only stayed for about 15 minutes, according to reports, before heading to the palace to meet Queen Elizabeth, Kate Middleton and various world leaders who had gathered to celebrate the 70th anniversary of NATO.
The first couple was scheduled to arrive at Clarence House at 5:10 pm local time but didn’t arrive until about 6:06 pm, according to CNN.
The Trumps posed for some photos with Camilla and Charles, the Queen’s oldest son and the heir to the throne, but left soon after in order to make the NATO reception, which was followed by another reception hosted by Boris Johnson, the U.K. prime minister.
President Trump, who is a divisive and widely disliked figure in Britain, nonetheless has spoken warmly of the Queen, calling her a “great, great woman” after their last meeting in June.
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Before the Trumps had tea on Tuesday, Trump met with other NATO leaders throughout the morning, including French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Trump and Macron had an at-times tense news conference, in which each criticized the others’ viewpoint on the future of the alliance between the U.S., Canada and much of Europe, which has been a cornerstone of the international order for decades.
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Last month, Macron said that the Trump administration’s failure to coordinate with international allies was causing the “brain death” of NATO.
On Tuesday, Trump told reporters that Macron’s comments were “very, very nasty” and “very disrespectful.”
The Trumps’ three-day trip to the U.K. continues Wednesday morning with more NATO meetings before a flight home to Washington, D.C., around lunch, when they will return to a capital preparing for an impeachment vote against him by the House of Representatives.
