It’s interesting reading the differences between the British coverage and American coverage of the Trumps’ state visit to the UK. The British political media is mostly happy that it’s over and they seem unsettled by how the Windsors ingratiated themselves so thoroughly with the Trumps. The American coverage is more like “well, Trump wants nothing more than to be a despotic king, so he was really impressed with the dumbass carriage ride, I guess.” Everyone’s pointing out that the Trumps were localized, almost entirely, inside and around Windsor Castle. They really didn’t want the Trumps to interact with any of the locals. Meanwhile, the royalists are trying to make it sound like a good thing that Trump is such a huge fan of Prince William, Kate and King Charles. “Nazi-approved” is such a weird flex for British royalty, you know? From Vanity Fair:

The inclusion of Prince William and Princess Kate at such a high level during Trump’s state visit has been “unusual,” according to royal watchers, with both the Prince and Princess of Wales taking on more high-profile roles. As well as greeting President Trump and the first lady at Windsor, which is standard for state visits, William and Catherine were invited to have a private meeting with the Trumps which a Kensington Palace aide described as “warm and friendly.”

“It seems as though Trump has an eye on the future generation,” says Ingrid Seward, editor of Majesty magazine. “He’s obviously genuinely impressed by William and who wouldn’t be impressed by Kate. She looked incredible. It seems a lot of effort has been made for the Trumps and the Waleses to spend some time together on this trip.”

“I would expect that William and Catherine would have been quite touched and maybe a bit taken aback by so many compliments,” adds Seward. “It’s very flattering to have someone as powerful as Trump praising you and treating you like a very special friend. It’s unusual for the Head of State to be that personal, but it’s Trump’s style. The royals have to deal with so many dullards, Trump is actually really refreshing. He’s outspoken and quite exciting to be around because you don’t know what’s going to happen. Catherine looked quite taken aback when he praised her so personally. She looked a bit embarrassed, but that’s Trump. I think the royals are probably amused and bemused by it all.”

During Wednesday’s dinner in Windsor, Trump made a point about being the only US president in history to be granted the privilege of two state visits and joked about hoping he would be the only one to make King Charles laugh.

A source close to the king told Vanity Fair that Charles has said the state visit “could not be better.” Adds the source, “I understand that His Majesty the King is thrilled about the visit and very pleased with the global optics of it all. The Royal Family really did pull out all the stops.”

[From Vanity Fair]

“The Royal Family really did pull out all the stops” – again, they didn’t have much of a choice. Charles HAD to do all of this, he was outmaneuvered by Keir Starmer and Trump himself. Charles had to roll out the red carpet and entertain a decrepit old white supremacist with shiny objects. The only real choices made for this state visit were about Prince William and Kate. Kate especially didn’t have to be featured so prominently, she didn’t have to agree to sit next to Trump at the banquet (that should have been a job for Camilla), she didn’t have to agree to a solo event with Melania. Choices were also made to push William and Kate aside, especially at the welcoming ceremony, when the Waleses were literally shooed away and kicked off the dais. So… yeah, some interesting things of note happened for hardcore royal-watchers, but the broad strokes of the state visit are that it was “successful” on both sides of the Atlantic.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.