JULY 11, 2025
Donald Trump was presented with a letter from King Charles, inviting him for an unprecedented second state visit, during his meeting with Sir Keir Starmer at the Oval Office in February – Carl Court/PA Wire
Donald Trump will not be given the honour of addressing Parliament during his state visit as Emmanuel Macron did this week, The Telegraph understands.
The date of the US president’s trip is being deliberately timed for mid-September, when there is a parliamentary recess, handing the UK an excuse for not offering the speech.
Mr. Trump is also not expected to visit Buckingham Palace, which is being restored, or enjoy a ceremonial carriage ride down the Mall in London – features of many past state visits from world leaders. Mr Macron did not visit the palace.
There had been concerns that Labour MPs could protest against a joint address to Parliament, possibly by staying away en masse, causing potential embarrassment to Mr Trump.
It means he will not achieve something enjoyed by his predecessors Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.
The lack of an address to Parliament risks a backlash from the US president, who British officials privately acknowledge is sensitive to perceived slights.
When Mr. Macron gave his speech to Parliament on Tuesday, the Prime Minister was in the front row to applaud alongside hundreds of peers and MPs.
There were also remarks talking up the importance of the French-British relationship from Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Commons Speaker, and Lord McFall, the Lord Speaker.
British officials involved in the state visit planning are keenly aware of the US president’s desire to beat his presidential predecessors in the scale and opulence of the events.
There are discussions about how to outdo his first state visit in 2019. Mr. Trump will become the first elected leader in modern times to enjoy two UK state visits – a fact he has been sharing privately with friends.
Sensitivities about Mr. Trump visiting the UK and the potential for critical MPs causing offence to him stretch back to 2016, the year in which he was first elected as the US president.
More than half a million people signed a petition calling for him to be banned from coming to the UK, triggering a debate in Parliament. Around 50 MPs spoke in the debate in January 2016, at which Mr Trump was called a buffoon, a racist demagogue and a “wazzock”.
An anti-Trump protest featuring a Trump baby inflatable in Parliament Square during the US president’s 2019 visit – Andy Rain/EPA-EFE/REX
Mr. Trump will visit the UK briefly later this month. He is expected to spend a short amount of time at his Scottish golf resort, Trump Turnberry, in Ayrshire.
Downing Street is still seeing whether diary clashes will prevent Sir Keir Starmer from seeing the US president during his short stay, which is expected to be low key.
The bigger public occasion will be his state visit in autumn, with dates expected to be announced by the palace later this month.
The Commons breaks for its parliamentary recess on Sept 16 – before Mr. Trump is expected to arrive. The House of Lords breaks two days later. The trip will be announced for some point between Sept 16 and 28, when the Labour Party’s annual conference begins in Liverpool.
Scheduling the visit for when Parliament is closed allows Downing Street to tiptoe around the awkward question of why Mr. Trump is not being offered a joint address to Parliament.
Earlier this week, Lord Ricketts, the former UK ambassador to France, publicly suggested that approach might be taken.
The last US president to have the honour was Mr. Obama, one of Mr. Trump’s long-time political foes, who spoke to peers and MPs during his 2011 state visit.
Mr. Macron used his address this week to highlight the historic ties between France and the UK, as well as announcing that the Bayeux Tapestry would be coming to Britain for the first time in 900 years.
Mr Trump and Mr Macron have clashed before. Last month, the US president criticised his French counterpart over comments about Mr. Trump’s thinking on Iran and Israel days before the US bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities.
Queen Elizabeth hosted a state banquet at Buckingham Palace for Mr. Trump in June 2019 – Victoria Jones/Getty Images
The US leader may not experience elements of Mr. Macron’s state visit.
The French president and his wife Brigitte spent a night in Windsor Castle. In recent years, security has dictated that the US president is put up in the UK in Winfield House, the US ambassador’s residence in Regent’s Park.
Mr. Macron rode with King Charles in an open-top carriage to Windsor Castle. US security concerns are expected to mean that Mr. Trump will not do the same.
King Charles and Mr. Macron travel in a carriage towards Windsor Castle during the French president’s state visit – Wiktor Szymanowicz/Getty Images
Both elements would be likely to be offered by the palace to Mr. Trump, as they were to Mr. Macron, meaning it would be the White House not taking them up.
Yet Mr. Trump may struggle to attract the same calibre of celebrity guests enjoyed by Mr. Macron at the state banquet, given how much he splits opinion.
Sir Mick Jagger, Kristin Scott Thomas, Sir Elton John, Mary Earps and Joanne Harris were all in attendance at the formal dinner for the French president on Tuesday night.
Courtesy/Source: The Telegraph
