President Donald Trump’s infatuation with the British royal family is coming to a head this week, a longtime royal reporter explained.
On the latest episode of the Daily Beast’s The Royalist Podcast, host Tom Sykes spoke with longtime royal reporter Robert Hardman ahead of King Charles III and Queen Camilla’s visit to the U.S. this week. Charles will give a joint address to Congress on Tuesday, before he is treated to a state dinner at the White House.
Trump has long fixated on the royal family and their lavish lifestyle, even admitting this week that he’d like to live in Buckingham Palace. Hardman recalled that when Trump first paid a visit to the royal family in 2018 and again in 2019, he was absolutely enthralled.
“He went to Buckingham Palace first... back in 2019, as a guest of the Queen. And then Windsor for his [2025] state visit,” Hardman said.
“He absolutely loved his trip, and I think he would have loved it if he had his ballroom ready to host the king and queen,” he continued.
The royal visit comes as the president’s White House ballroom project has stalled after a federal judge halted construction of the $400 million plan, citing a lack of congressional approval.
Hardman recalled a conversation he had with Trump, in which he said “actually, my ballroom’s going to be bigger,“ as the pair were discussing St. George’s Hall, a medieval hall where the president attended a banquet last year.
“This is such a fascinating little vignette because, of course, this is a huge hot-button issue in America,” Sykes said. “This sort of tearing down of the East Wing, the unilateral rebuilding of it, and the desire to make... what is portrayed in some quarters as a kind of Versailles-like folly to opulence and grandeur and gold plates and all things glittering.”
“It’s so interesting that he explicitly made that comparison to you, Robert,” he added.
Neither the White House nor Buckingham Palace immediately responded to the Daily Beast’s request for comment.
Hardman explained that Trump understands that “as a head of state, you want to entertain. So I imagine that’s the thinking behind this ballroom at the White House.”
“Having spent a weekend at Mar-a-Lago, I mean, that’s done on a pretty impressive scale,” he added. “There’s a big ballroom there. It’s not as big as the one that they’re going to have in the White House.”
“This is a president who does like to have a party,” Hardman continued. “And so that’s another reason why I think he’s going to want to make sure this state banquet goes well.”
Join veteran royal correspondent Tom Sykes in the throne room to find out how the secret world of the palace really operates—every bit of royal tea you could need. New Royalist podcasts will be released every Tuesday on YouTube, and the next day on all podcast platforms.
