Only 200 people were peacefully gathered at the corner of Castle Hill street with the B3022 county road, next to King Henry VIII Gate of Windsor Castle. They watched the English overcast sky, pierced by the constant passage of several helicopters, trying to figure out in which one Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, were traveling.
It was an impossible task because the President of United States always flies in a convoy with at least two identical models of Marine One, his official helicopter, to minimize the risk of someone shooting a missile or placing a bomb. So the small group of curious onlookers and pro and anti-Trump activists stood there, confused, looking at the aircraft, with a soundtrack that had been playing since the night before, formed by fighter jets flying over the cloudy sky of the castle, which has been the residence of the kings of England for almost a thousand years.
Trump's supporters were truly disappointed, even though it had been clear from the beginning that the American president would not have any contact with the British population, which has a huge rejection towards him. However, those who support him do so fervently. Ben, a 74-year-old pastor, was simply hoping that the United States would invade the United Kingdom. "The military is our only hope, and we are left without an army," he explained. Beside him, Beth, 57, who does not work to take care of her mother and her blind sister Mandy, who was in a wheelchair with a bag, a flag, and a thermos on her lap, nodded in agreement.
Among those who supported and criticized Trump, there were few who had an unbiased view of the visit, although judging by the scarce number of passersby interested in the helicopters' "dance," they must have been the majority. Probably, those were the ones whom both the monarchy and the Prime Minister's office would have liked to dedicate the day to. People like Patricia, 66, who lives in the neighboring village of Datchet, a half-hour walk from the castle, and who saw the whole trip as an exercise in pragmatism: "I don't like Trump, and I suppose King Charles III must detest him, but countries have to get along".
Certainly, the United Kingdom has to get along with Trump. And, for now, it is succeeding. The combined effect of the formidable diplomatic action of King Charles III and Prime Minister Keir Starmer has made London, along with Israel (although that is a special case because it is in permanent war), the only democracy that the United States has not offended, and the country that has achieved the most favorable conditions from Washington in its protectionist crusade. This places the United Kingdom in a group of countries close to Trump, including Russia, El Salvador, the Gulf petro-monarchies, and Turkey, with which a Western European parliamentary democracy has very little in common.
This trip is the ultimate example of this. Trump has achieved what no foreign leader has ever achieved: a second State visit to the United Kingdom. But, he also has a very special State visit: behind closed doors. Even Vladimir Putin had his carriage ride through the streets of London accompanied by Queen Elizabeth. Trump did it, of course. But within the Castle grounds. Far from the public. That is, away from the protests.
And also away from the microphones. It seems unlikely that Starmer has forgotten how, during his previous State visit to the United Kingdom, Trump devoted himself to disparaging the Prime Minister, Conservative Theresa May, and praising his main rival, Boris Johnson. Trump has expressed on multiple occasions his ideological proximity to nationalist Nigel Farage, who leads Starmer by ten points in the polls and regularly attends events with the President in the United States. The British Prime Minister does not want the American President to have the opportunity to deviate from the script, although the joint press conference they will hold today, Thursday, may be the loophole through which Trump's rhetoric sneaks in to criticize Starmer in an unexpected way.
So, yesterday's agenda was mainly focused on protocol. Walks around Windsor, a floral tribute to Queen Elizabeth II, and a lunch with the Royal Family -Kings and heirs, that is, William and Kate- kicked off the schedule, until the evening brought a working dinner with businessmen. That's where the real work for Starmer began.
That is a complicated task. Speculation last night pointed to moderate successes in foreign policy and failures, of acceptable magnitude, in trade. In the former, Trump's trip started with very important news for the United Kingdom and Europe in general: on Monday, Washington agreed to the first direct sale of weapons from its arsenals to NATO European partners, who will now send them to Ukraine. The total amount slightly exceeds one billion dollars and could be the first part of a package that could reach 10,000.
But Trump's instinct is to support Russia. And he made this clear last week when he lifted some sanctions on the Belarusian national airline Belavia, sanctioned after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The measures include spare parts, which, according to observers, will be quickly transferred to Russia, as Minsk is practically a Moscow colony. However, the most complicated part will be the conversation between Starmer and Trump about the latter's demand, outlined in a surreal social media post last week, for Europe to stop buying gas and oil from Russia and impose tariffs on China and India until those two powers do the same. The idea is considered unfeasible in London, where it is not ruled out that it is simply a ploy by the American to indefinitely postpone imposing sanctions on Russia or increasing military support to Ukraine.
In the commercial field, it does not seem that the United Kingdom has many cards. Starmer wants Trump to agree to reduce barriers for British whisky to enter the United States and wishes to clarify the details - never specified - of the steel and aluminum trade in the agreement reached between both countries last May. The negotiations were not going well on Tuesday when Trump landed, although with the President of the United States, one never knows what might happen.
Thus, the aristocratic Windsors -Charles, Camilla, William, and Kate- spent the day entertaining the volatile and, to put it politely, uninhibited Trump, accompanied by his stoic Melania, before handing him over to the always cerebral and emotionally reserved Starmer. Probably, no one talked about the person who connects the three of them: the human trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, whose activities led to a certain ostracism of Charles's younger brother, Andrew, forced the resignation of the British ambassador in London, Peter Mandelson, and caused the biggest political crisis of Donald Trump's second Administration, who seems to have been involved in the scheme, presumably as a client. State visits are not meant to discuss such matters.