Trump's Upcoming State Visit to the UK: A Mix of Spectacle and Controversy

Tue Oct 21 2025 23:00:11 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)

As President Trump's second state visit to the UK approaches, careful planning faces potential pitfalls amid protests and diplomatic tensions related to a recent scandal involving a former UK ambassador.

US President Donald Trump's upcoming state visit to the UK is set against a backdrop of potential controversy, reminiscent of his first visit in 2019. Planning for the event has been meticulous, aimed at showcasing the 'full state visit experience' amidst protests and political tensions highlighted by the recent dismissal of a UK ambassador. The visit is expected to be a media spectacle, although significant diplomatic issues loom between the two countries.

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.

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.

Much thought, too, is devoted to the menu and the music which will involve lots of nods to his Scottish heritage.

King Charles III's seven-minute speech at the banquet has gone through many drafts, ensuring he pushes the right buttons without crossing political lines.

Beyond providing a day of royal pageantry, the government has business to conduct on Thursday when proceedings move to the prime minister's country residence at Chequers.

Ministers hope to complete a deal to exclude UK steel and aluminium from US tariffs. There will be some new civil nuclear cooperation.

This was Lord Mandelson's priority, something he described in his outgoing letter to embassy staff last week as my personal pride and joy, that he claimed would help write the next chapter of the special relationship.

All these issues will be portrayed as big domestic wins to help promote the government's growth agenda.

The visit will also provide Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer with a significant opportunity to bend the ear of the president just a week before the United Nations general assembly in New York, especially on Ukraine.

Jeremy Hunt, who as Foreign Secretary was heavily involved in the last Trump state visit, said this was a key chance to shape the president's thinking.

Trump appears to be on a journey away from Putin, towards recognising that he needs a way of standing with his European allies a bit better, Hunt said.

Yet Trump is unpopular in the UK. A YouGov poll in July found only 16% of Britons surveyed say they have a positive view of him.