U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and President Trump exit Air Force One as they arrive at Royal Air Force Lossiemouth en route to Aberdeen, Scotland, on July 28. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)
On Thursday, President Trump will bid farewell to King Charles III and Queen Camilla at 10:30 a.m. local time before departing Windsor Castle for Chequers, the grand country manor granted to sitting prime ministers.
There, the president will participate in a bilateral meeting with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer. The two are expected to sign an agreement to help companies from one country build nuclear projects in the other. They will also meet with business leaders and hold a press conference.
State visits tend not to be high-stakes affairs. But the “special relationship” between the U.S. and the U.K. has been tested lately by Trump’s tariffs and his reluctance to continue supporting Ukraine in its war with Russia.
With that in mind, experts say Starmer’s goal may be to leverage Trump’s lifelong affinity for the royal family in order to set the stage for more substantive talks.
“Keir Starmer has, cleverly in a way, used the king to lure President Trump over here, to give him a very good time,” royal historian Hugo Vickers told the AP. It’s “a wonderful opportunity, with all the goodwill that will be engaged at this point, to talk to him … and [see] if there’s any hope of sorting out Ukraine, etc. This is all a step in the right direction.”