King Charles will not meet Donald Trump during the US President’s planned visit to Scotland later this month, after diary challenges forced both sides to abandon preliminary talks ahead of September’s state visit.
Buckingham Palace and the White House have agreed to postpone any meeting until Trump’s full state visit to the UK from 17-19 September, when he will be hosted at Windsor Castle.
The decision comes despite the King’s earlier invitation for an informal summer meeting at one of his Scottish estates whilst Trump visited his golf courses.
Scheduling Conflicts Emerge
GB News understands that “diary challenges” were the main sticking point in abandoning the Scotland meeting, with both leaders’ schedules proving incompatible.
The King had originally suggested a meeting at either Balmoral or Dumfries House during Trump’s expected visit to his Turnberry golf resort on Scotland’s west coast.
Quite apart from presenting an opportunity to discuss a wide range of issues of mutual interest, it would also offer a valuable chance to plan a historic second State Visit to the United Kingdom,” Charles had written in his invitation letter.
Royal Protocol Concerns
The Daily Mail reports that royal courtiers were aware potential complications could arise from Charles’s role as patron of the R&A, which operates The Open Championship.
Trump’s Turnberry resort has not hosted The Open since 2009, despite having staged the tournament four times since 1977, leading to speculation the president might use any royal meeting to lobby for its return.
Aides have now made the monarch “unavailable” for the visit, which comes just days after The Open Championship concludes at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland.
September State Visit Confirmed
The Palace formally announced this week that Trump and First Lady Melania Trump will undertake a state visit from 17-19 September, making him the first elected leader in modern times to enjoy two UK state visits.
“The President of the United States of America, President Donald J. Trump, accompanied by the First Lady Mrs. Melania Trump, has accepted an invitation from His Majesty The King,” the Palace statement read.
Trump was previously hosted by Queen Elizabeth II during a state visit in 2019, which the King referenced as having “great fondness” for in his invitation letter.
Original Summer Plans
The King’s original invitation, delivered by Prime Minister Keir Starmer in February, had suggested an informal Scottish meeting could help plan the “unprecedented” second state visit.
Charles had written that a visit to Balmoral might be convenient if Trump was “calling in at Menie,” referencing the president’s Aberdeen golf resort, or alternatively Dumfries House near his Turnberry course.
The informal meeting would have provided what royal sources described as a unique opportunity for “soft power diplomacy” away from cameras and formal protocol.
Political Sensitivities
The abandoned meeting comes amid ongoing diplomatic tensions, with some MPs calling for Trump’s state visit to be cancelled over his stance on Ukraine.
Scottish First Minister John Swinney had warned that hosting Trump would be “simply unimaginable” if the US withdrew support for Ukraine, whilst SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn said Britain would look like “fawning fools.
However, Starmer rejected such calls, telling the BBC he would not be “diverted” by those trying to “ramp up the rhetoric” surrounding international relations.
Historic Precedent
Trump’s September visit will mark only the third US presidential state visit to Britain this century, following George W Bush in 2003 and Barack Obama in 2011.
The formal invitation, known as the “Manu Regia,” was hand-delivered to the White House last week, signed personally by the King as tradition demands.
Despite the abandoned Scotland meeting, both sides have emphasised the importance of the UK-US relationship, with a government spokesperson noting: “No two countries are as closely aligned as ours on economic, defence, security and intelligence interests.”
The King will proceed with his annual summer holiday at Balmoral as planned, whilst Trump’s exact dates for visiting his Scottish golf properties remain unconfirmed.
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