Donald Trump has enjoyed hosting King Charles III because of his status as a hereditary monarch, one royal expert says.
Tom Sykes, host of the Daily Beast’s The Royalist Podcast, said that Trump, 79, “responded really well” to the power and celebrity of his guest, who is joined by Queen Camilla, 78, for a four-day state visit to mark the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
“Prime ministers come and go, presidents...come and go. Who cares?” Sykes told host Joanna Coles.
Charles, on the other hand, casually mentioned in his speech to Congress and during that night’s White House state dinner that his ancestor during the American Revolution was King George III.
“It was almost like, ‘I’m the emperor,’” Sykes said, adding that Charles, 77, possesses “this entirely different, unique kind of power and celebrity that Donald Trump responded really well to. Donald Trump enjoyed, I think, rolling out the red carpet for him.”
Trump on Tuesday hosted the king and queen at the White House for a state dinner. Charles used the opportunity to push back against some of Trump’s complaints about the U.K. and Europe in general.
Still, Trump appeared to take it well.
Sykes continued: “I was on a show last night and they had one of Donald Trump’s former press secretaries on, and this person was saying that Donald Trump is very much like a host. He loves hosting, he loves showing off his hosting skills, he loves having his big hotel and his big ballroom and impressing you.”
“And so it’s bringing out the essence of the special relationship,” he said. “It’s not just about me saying, ‘Oh, you’re marvelous.’ It’s about us both being able to hopefully be better people.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Beast.
The U.K.-U.S. relationship is at a low point, given how Trump has attacked the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and unsuccessfully tried to get British military support for his war against Iran, which has reached the two-month point. The Pentagon has even considered ways to punish the U.K. for not getting more involved in the war.
Still, Trump said before this week’s visit that the occasion could help improve the relationship.
“Absolutely. He’s fantastic. He’s a fantastic man,” he told a BBC reporter about Charles. “Absolutely the answer is yes.”
Charles welcomed Trump to the U.K. last September in what was also a cordial, multi-day visit that the president called “truly one of the highest honors of [his] life.”
Trump’s second state visit to the U.K.—the first having occurred in 2019 under Queen Elizabeth II’s reign—was full of pomp and circumstance, including a visit to the Queen’s tomb and participation in a carriage procession with Melania. Trump was also treated to a banquet at Windsor Castle, where he stayed the night—in a separate suite from his wife.
“These are two fantastic people,” Trump later said of Charles and Camilla. “We will never forget it.”
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