Robert Lacey: British historian and biographer on Donald Trump's state visit to the UK

Donald Trump has landed in the UK for his second state visit.

The US president and the first lady, Melania Trump, were greeted UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper and royal representatives at Stansted Airport, before being transported to Windsor Castle to meet King and Queen.

British historian and biographer Robert Lacey says Trump is expected to take part in a significant series of events over the next couple of days.

"Donald Trump's mother was Scottish, he's got this sentimental fondness for the monarchy and Britain's using that, frankly, as part of our modern soft power."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Donald Trump.

Speaker 2 (00:00):
He's arrived in the UK for his second state visit.
He's getting the full royal treatment. King Charles is hosting
the US President of Milani at Windsor Castle, they count
Buckingham Place. It's currently undergoing a major renovation. There's going
to be a ceremonial welcome and a lavish state banquet
and just everything now. Robert Lacey is a royal historian
who worked as a consultant to the Netflix show The Crown.

Speaker 3 (00:20):
Hi Robert, Hello, Heather.

Speaker 1 (00:23):
So are they giving him the full royal treatment? Are they?

Speaker 3 (00:27):
Absolutely? I mean it's already happened. I mean he's the
first head of states of ours who know actually to
be invited visibly with a letter which he opened delightedly
in front of the world's press. And he's the first
time any head of state has ever been invited. Twice,
he came in his first term. He was then greeted

(00:50):
by then Prince Charles with Camilla, and now he's getting
the full royal treatment from King Charles at Windsor Castle,
only a few miles down the river from River Thames,
from Running Mead, where the British monarchy signed its famous

(01:11):
deal that really destined it on its present course towards
ceremonial glory but actual political impotence. But we shall see
whether this meeting might not yield something of substance as well.

Speaker 1 (01:24):
So what do you think? It sounds to me very
much like the bank is going to be the highlight.

Speaker 3 (01:31):
It'll be one of the highlights. I mean, it's held
at the table that's in Windsor Castle in the Great Hall,
nearly a thousand years old, Windsor Castle fifty yards long.
What's that getting on for the length of the football field.
And apparently there are also plans for a carriage drive
not down the mall in London, because there aren't many

(01:53):
people who come out to cheer Donald Trump. Most of
them would boo him, I'm afraid to say. But it
will be in the ground well, in the alternative surroundings
of Windsor Great Park, in a carriage with the castle
in the background. It couldn't be more photogenic.

Speaker 1 (02:11):
Have you heard that he is going to visit the
late Queen's grave.

Speaker 3 (02:16):
This will be one of the most moving moments, I think,
and of genuine significance. Donald Trump's mother was Scottish. He's
got this sentimental fondness for the monarchy, and Britain is
using that frankically as part of our modern soft power.
And the plan is we are told that he will

(02:38):
go into the chapel Windsor Castle and pay tribute to
the grave of not just the Queen but Prince Philip,
of course predeceased her but lay there waiting for her
under the and sentimentality and power will come together at

(02:58):
that moment and history as well our longest living monarch ever,
the creator of the Commonwealth and of course happy to
say Head of State of New Zealand as well as
Great Britain, Robert.

Speaker 1 (03:10):
How do Britain's feel about about it being laid on
so thick.

Speaker 3 (03:16):
Well, I think people realize that we Kirstam is doing
a job. I mean the real substance of the meeting
will happen at the end. After Windsor he will go
off to the President Trump and will maybe it's just
President Trump and Kirstam will go off and do the

(03:39):
solid business of the trip at Checkers, which is the
country home of the Prime Minister, and there they will
actually sit down and talk about things like Ukraine, maybe Palestine, Gaza,
who knows certainly things look, tariffs that matter to us.
So Britain's realize this is the sort of thing that
has to be done and actually we're rather proud that

(04:01):
we can still put on a good show and let's
hope for some positive result from it.

Speaker 2 (04:07):
Yeah, absolutely hate Robert, Thank you very much, appreciate your time.
That's Robert Lacey, royal historian and consultant to the Netflix
show The Crown. What Starma is after apparently is now
just a reasonable deal on the steel tariffs. So he
had been hoping originally that he could get the tariff
down to zero.

Speaker 1 (04:24):
That's not realistic.

Speaker 2 (04:25):
So he's decided, yeah, just going to go for twenty
five percent, which I think they're on already. He just
wants to make that permanent. And that is now looking
like a good deal because all the other countries are
still on fifty percent in terms of the steel tariffs. Also,
things haven't gone swimmingly just up to now. So a
couple of well I don't know how many, but a
bunch of protesters have projected a video montage of images

(04:45):
of Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein onto one of the
towers of Windsor Castle. It included the President's mugshot. It
included portraits of Epstein, newspaper headlines and then footage of
the two of them dancing together. The group behind it
is a group called Led by Donkeys, and they are
getting to be a little bit famous for their viral stunts.
They managed to get the montage broadcast onto the tower

(05:08):
for several minutes before they were arrested on suspicion of
malicious communications.

Speaker 1 (05:14):
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