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News analysis
The British prime minister, Keir Starmer, presented President Trump with a royal invitation and scored several political wins. But his top goal — a security guarantee for Ukraine — remained elusive.
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President Trump Is Invited for a ‘Historic’ Second State Visit to U.K.
During his visit to Washington, Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain handed President Trump a letter from King Charles.
And it is my pleasure to bring from His Majesty the King a letter. He sends his best wishes and his regards, of course. But he also asked me to bear this letter and bring it to you. So can I present the letter from the King Thank you very much. That’s quite a signature, isn’t it? How beautiful. He’s a beautiful man, a wonderful man. Perhaps you’d like to say what that very important paragraph. Yes, so this is a letter from His Majesty the King. It’s an invitation for a second state visit. This is really special. This has never happened before. This is unprecedented. This is truly historic. An unprecedented second visit. He wants to talk that through with you. And that says at Windsor. That’s really something. Yes. What I haven’t got yet is your answer. I do need to — The answer is Yes. On behalf of our wonderful first lady, Melania and myself, the answer is Yes. And we look forward to being there and honoring the King and honoring really your country. Your country is a fantastic country and it’ll be our honor to be there.
Feb. 28, 2025, 7:02 a.m. ET
King Charles III was not in the Oval Office on Thursday afternoon. But his regal presence loomed over the meeting between President Trump and Prime Minister Keir Starmer, which felt at times less like a big-power showdown over Ukraine than a courtesy call between two Renaissance royal courts.
From the moment Mr. Starmer pulled an embossed letter from his breast pocket and handed it to Mr. Trump, with an invitation from the king for the president to make a state visit to Britain, the much-anticipated encounter between these two leaders relaxed into something friendlier, but also somehow less momentous.
“A beautiful man, a wonderful man,” Mr. Trump said, after poring over the two-page letter, which was signed “Charles R” in a bold, oversized hand not unlike that used by the president to sign dozens of executive orders.
It fell to Mr. Starmer to explain the diplomatic novelty represented by the invitation: Mr. Trump is the first elected leader in the modern era to be honored with two state visits to Britain. “This is really special,” Mr. Starmer told the assembled press corps. “This has never happened before.”
The prime minister might have added: Never has an elected British leader deployed the monarchy so transparently to win the favor of another head of state.
Mr. Starmer is well aware of Mr. Trump’s enchantment with the royal family. The president viewed his last state visit in 2019, during which Queen Elizabeth II threw him a lavish banquet at Buckingham Palace, as a highlight of his first term. Mr. Trump has lately taken to referring to himself in royal terms: “LONG LIVE THE KING!” he posted on social media, after moving to kill New York City’s congestion pricing program.
