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President Donald Trump didn’t visit with King Charles and the royal family during his trip to Scotland this week, but he did have plenty of praise for them while meeting with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
During the leaders’ joint press conference on Monday, Trump said, “Being with Charles, Camilla and everybody, I’ve got to know a lot of the family members. They are great people. They are really great people.”
“In that sense, I think the U.K. is very lucky; you could have people that weren’t great people,” the president continued. “I don’t know if I can say that, but you could have people that weren’t.”
President Trump, 79, has previously spoken highly of the late Queen Elizabeth, including a tribute to her after her death in September 2022.
“Melania and I are deeply saddened to learn of the loss of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Together with our family and fellow Americans, we send our sincere condolences to the Royal Family and the people of the United Kingdom during this time of great sorrow and grief.”
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Trump continued: “Queen Elizabeth’s historic and remarkable reign left a tremendous legacy of peace and prosperity for Great Britain. Her leadership and enduring diplomacy secured and advanced alliances with the United States and countries around the world. However, she will always be remembered for her faithfulness to her country and her unwavering devotion to her fellow countrymen and women.”
After her death, however, several reports claimed that Queen Elizabeth “didn’t like” Trump and found him to be “rude.”
Trump will connect with the royal family again during his official state visit in September. It will be a second and unprecedented state visit for Trump, after he visited the late Queen Elizabeth in 2019 during his first term as president.
After Starmer first issued the invitation on behalf of the King in February, a formal letter of invitation — known as a “manu regia” — signed by the monarch was hand-delivered to the White House by British officials in Washington last month. The president and First Lady Melania Trump will visit with the royal family at Windsor Castle from Sept. 17 to 19.
A palace aide said at the time, “His Majesty has known President Trump for many years and looks forward to hosting him and the First Lady later this year.”
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However, the Daily Beast reported this week that the King and his inner circle are “very concerned” about Trump’s potential behavior during the visit, given the president’s recent mockery of Canada and comments on immigration in the U.K.
After Air Force One touched down at Glasgow Airport on Friday, Trump wasted no time commenting on immigration.
“You better get your act together or you’re not going to have Europe anymore,” he told reporters. “You’ve got to stop this horrible invasion that is happening to Europe, many countries in Europe.”
“Some leaders have not let it happen, and they’re not getting the proper credit,” Trump added. “I could name them to you right now, but I’m not going to embarrass the other ones. But stop, this immigration is killing Europe.”
While Trump was happy to praise the royal family, he had less kind words for other prominent figures in the U.K.
During his press conference with Starmer, he told the prime minister, “I’m not a fan of your mayor [Sadiq Khan], a nasty person… He’s done a terrible job, the mayor of London.”
Starmer countered, saying, “He’s actually a friend of mine.”
Trump replied, “I think he’s done a terrible job.”
