This week full-time golfer and part-time United States president Donald Trump made his triumphant visit to the UK. The Brits responded to his arrival with acerbic style, creating a "F*** Trump" crop circle, launching a Baby Trump blimp, and drawing a crowd of nearly 250,000 protesters. Of course, Orange Voldemort didn't see much of that. Rather than face a critical crowd in London, he spent most of his time in Ye Olde Safe Space, the English countryside.
On Friday, President Trump and the First Lady Melania traveled to Windsor Castle to have tea with Queen Elizabeth II. With the exception of Lyndon B. Johnson, every US president has met the Queen since 1952. In an interview with The Sun, President Trump praised the 92-year-old monarch.
"She is a tremendous woman. I really look forward to meeting her. I think she represents her country so well. If you think of it, for so many years she has represented her country, she has really never made a mistake. You don’t see, like, anything embarrassing. She is just an incredible woman."
However, according to a YouGov survey, 49% of Brits did not want Trump to meet the Queen. In 2012, he made a snarky comment about Kate Middleton, after photos leaked of her sunbathing nude. "Kate Middleton is great - but she shouldn't be sunbathing in the nude - only herself to blame," tweeted Trump. (He is an expert on the subject, since his wife Melania did a very classy nude photoshoot with GQ in 2000.)
Also, in 1997, Trump made a lewd comment about Princess Diana during a radio interview. Howard Stern asked, "You could’ve gotten her, right? You could’ve nailed her?" Trump relied, "I think I could've." As the Brits might say, that starkers comment surely miffed the royals - what codswallop!
Well, it turns out they had reason to worry. At Windsor Castle, President Trump kept the Queen waiting at least 10 minutes, possibly 15, depending on the media outlet. To be fair, Trump's motorcade arrived right on the dot, at the agreed-upon time, so technically he wasn't late. However, according to British Twitter, when one meets Queen Elizabeth, "early is on time and on time is late." The Queen was photographed waiting outside for about 15 minutes, wearing a hat and coat in the summer heat, and checked her watch twice. Pretty awkward, innit?
After President Trump finally arrived, he broke royal protocol by failing to bow, and obliviously lumbered in front of her. Then he and the Queen inspected the Guard of Honour, and Twitter users observed he seemed "classless," like he was "struggl[ing] to master the art of walking." One individual even said it looked like the Queen was attempting to train a dog.
This wasn't the only awkward moment on Friday. Earlier, President Trump held a rambling press conference with U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May. In an explosive interview with The Sun released a day prior, Trump slammed May for her "soft" handling of Brexit. However, at the press conference, he dismissed that interview as "fake news," despite the fact his words were recorded and the audio was released.
Trump went on to ominously and vaguely criticize immigration, declaring, "I think they better watch themselves because you are changing culture, you are changing a lot of things. It’s a very sad situation. It’s very unfortunate, but I do not think it’s good for Europe and I don’t think it’s good for our country." May then interjected, "Over the years, overall, immigration has been good for the UK." Obviously, this EuroTrip is a huge success.
The President and First Lady will spend the weekend in Scotland, before heading to Helsinki, Finland to meet with Russian president and #BFF4Life Vladmir Putin. Something tells me Trump won't keep him waiting.
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