President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump departed the White House early Tuesday to travel to the United Kingdom, where they will participate in a historic second state visit.
Trump will meet with top U.K. officials to deepen the allied countries’ ties and engage with King Charles III and Queen Camilla.
It’s a historic visit because it makes Trump the first elected leader to be invited and hosted for two state visits by the royals.
“My relationship is very good with the U.K. and Charles, as you know, who is now king is my friend and it’s the first time that this has ever happened that somebody was honored twice,” Trump told reporters Tuesday.
Trump’s second visit will take place at Windsor Castle, while his first visit was at Buckingham Palace. He said Tuesday he didn’t want to say “one’s better than the other,” but said Windsor is “the ultimate.”
The president noted that he was going to engage in discussion about “refining” a trade deal with U.K. officials. Trump said he is “into helping” the allied country.
“So, we’ll talk to them, but primarily, it’s to be with (King) Charles and Camilla, they’re friends of mine for a long time, long before he was king and it’s an honor to have him as king and I think he represents the country so well,” Trump said.
Trump’s first visit was led by Queen Elizabeth II. This time, Charles will head the visit and be supported by Prince William and Princess Catherine of Wales.
Prince Andrew will not be participating in the events, ABC News reported.
Andrew had ties to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, which has been a point of contention in recent weeks for Trump and his administration.
Trump’s invite was delivered by U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer when the two met in February in the Oval Office.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and others will join Trump on the visit.