{"id":213411,"date":"2026-04-29T00:56:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T00:56:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/213411\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T00:56:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T00:56:18","slug":"melania-trump-and-queen-camilla-play-supporting-roles-during-state-visit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/213411\/","title":{"rendered":"Melania Trump and Queen Camilla play supporting roles during state visit"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n As the United States and United Kingdom sought to bolster their \u201cspecial relationship\u201d<\/a> on Tuesday in Washington, Queen Camilla and first lady Melania Trump were seen but not heard.\n <\/p>\n

\n Dressed in white ensembles, the women joined their husbands for an official welcome ceremony at the White House, where they walked a red carpet and observed all the pomp and circumstance: a 21-gun cannon salute, the playing of both national anthems, the US Army Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps in tricorn hats, and warm remarks from President Donald Trump.\n <\/p>\n

\n Then, as King Charles III and the president met privately, the first lady and the queen retreated to the tennis pavilion for a spousal outing featuring historical artifacts, with a modern twist. Over string renditions of pop songs, it was nearly impossible for reporters to hear as they engaged with local middle school students in an event highlighting the use of new technologies in education.\n <\/p>\n

\n The moment and its stagecraft spoke to how both Melania Trump and Queen Camilla are approaching their roles during this state visit, which comes at a time of strained relations between the UK and the US over the war with Iran.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cNeither one of them is stealing any of the spotlight here,\u201d said Elizabeth Holmes, an independent journalist chronicling the royal family and author of \u201cHRH: So Many Thoughts on Royal Style.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\"President<\/p>\n

\n \u201cIn this case, Charles and Trump are very much the focal point. And I would bet both men appreciate that. Certainly, Charles has had times in his life when he was not the focal point,\u201d Holmes added. \u201cThey are both representative of women that need to play this supporting part.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n On one side of the White House tennis court, Melania Trump and Camilla viewed a tablet showing what the students clad in Meta virtual reality goggles could see: landmarks of the United Kingdom, including Snowdonia, Stonehenge and Buckingham Palace.\n <\/p>\n

\n Other students wore AI-enabled sunglasses that enhanced a series of artifacts curated by the first lady: a bust of Prime Minister Winston Churchill; a portrait of President John Adams, who was also the first US ambassador to the United Kingdom; and blue-and-white Staffordshire ceramic ware.\n <\/p>\n

\n The use of new technology (a key platform of Melania Trump\u2019s) to observe historical artifacts (a passion of the queen\u2019s) offered an outing neatly tailored to both women\u2019s interests.\n <\/p>\n

\"First<\/p>\n

\n After Trump briefly put on her own set of sunglasses, a student inquired with Camilla whether she was interested in doing the same, underscoring the off-script moments that can happen when children are involved in diplomatic events.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cYou want to try these?\u201d the boy asked the queen, removing his glasses. She shook her head with a polite \u201cno.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n This trip marks the third time the two women have met in a state visit setting and the first time Queen Camilla has visited the White House since her husband ascended to the throne. Last September, during the Trumps\u2019 state visit to the UK, the queen and the first lady toured Queen Mary\u2019s Dolls\u2019 House and the Royal Library together. And while they are friendly acquaintances, the women aren\u2019t particularly close.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI don\u2019t know of any sort of established relationship between the first lady and the queen, nor do I think there necessarily has to be one,\u201d Holmes said, adding, \u201cThis, to me, feels very much like the first lady and the queen are going through the motions of what their role requires.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Part of that requirement is the exchange of gifts between the Trumps and the royal couple. The queen gifted the first lady a brooch from British jewelry designer Fiona Rae, whose work, Buckingham Palace noted, is a \u201cfusion of traditional craft skills alongside the latest developments in technology and computer-aided design\u201d \u2014 a possible nod to Melania Trump\u2019s interest in AI and advancing technologies. And the first lady gave the queen six teaspoons from Tiffany & Co.\u2019s \u201cEnglish King\u201d sterling silver collection, along with a jar of White House honey \u2014 a reflection of Camilla\u2019s interest in beekeeping.\n <\/p>\n

\n One topic that did not come up during Tuesday\u2019s 20-minute spousal outing but is an elephant in the room throughout the royal visit: Both women have had to wrangle with fallout from the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.\n <\/p>\n

\n Earlier this month, Melania Trump issued a stunning statement<\/a> forcefully distancing herself from the pedophile and calling on Congress to hold public holdings allowing his victims to testify on Capitol Hill.\n <\/p>\n

\n And in the UK, the royal family has distanced itself<\/a> from the former Prince Andrew, the king\u2019s brother. The king and queen do not plan to accept a request to meet with Epstein survivors during their four-day visit to the US, CNN has reported.\n <\/p>\n

\n Camilla, who has sought to become a vocal advocate for survivors of sexual abuse, will have multiple meetings in the US<\/a> with representatives of groups campaigning against domestic violence.\n <\/p>\n

\n But on Tuesday, it was the king who did the talking \u2014 albeit in very vague terms \u2014 as his wife looked on from the House chamber during his address to Congress.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIn both of our countries, it is the very fact of our vibrant, diverse and free societies that gives us our collective strength, including to support victims of some of the ills that, so tragically, exist in both our societies today,\u201d the 77-year-old sovereign said, without mentioning Epstein.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the United States and United Kingdom sought to bolster their \u201cspecial relationship\u201d on Tuesday in Washington, Queen…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":213412,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-213411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213411\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/213412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}