Saturday, February 14

Trump UK visit itinerary: Everything else you need to know


 

 

Donald Trump is set to meet the Queen at Windsor Castle when he visits the UK on his first official visit as US president this week.

His tight schedule has been packed with military pageantry to highlight the defence alliance between the two nations.

But Mr Trump is set to avoid central London as thousands of protesters prepare to take to the streets in a huge demonstration against him.

What is the president’s schedule?

The US president will fly into London following a Nato summit in Brussels on Thursday afternoon. He will travel straight to Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, where Theresa May will host Mr Trump and his wife Melania for a black-tie dinner with 100 guests and ministers.

The evening will start with a military ceremony in the palace’s Great Court performed by the bands of the Scots, Irish and Welsh guards.

They will then travel to the Prime Minister’s country home Chequers for bilateral talks on a range of foreign policy issues including trade.

From Friday evening the president and first lady will travel to Scotland where they will spend the rest of their trip before Mr Trump departs on Sunday evening.

How does it differ to previous presidential visits?

Mr Trump’s trip to the UK will be the 12th by a US president, but his is a working not a state visit.

Jimmy Carter was cheered by crowds when he came in 1977, while JFK was met by half a million people in 1961.

George Bush spent the night at Buckingham Palace in 2003, becoming the first president to do so since Woodrow Wilson in 1918.

Mr Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama, was afforded a state visit to the UK in 2011 and also came on a further three occasions.

Presidents Nixon, George H Bush and George W Bush have all visited the Chequers estate on their visits to the UK, as the current president will do on Friday.

Where are protests planned?

Around 50,000 people are expected to descend on central London to protest against Donald Trump when he arrives in the UK for an official visit.

Demonstrators will make their way through the city on the Stop Trump march before a large rally takes place in Trafalgar Square.

The organisers have described the protest as part of a carnival of resistance taking place across the UK in response to the US president’s visit.

After assembling in Portland Place at 2pm, protesters will march through Oxford Circus and down Regent Street before ending in Trafalgar Square.

A rally is set to take place in the square from 5pm to 7pm.

Activists have crowdfunded enough money to pay for a giant inflatable of Mr Trump as a baby, which they intend to fly above the city during his visit.