These Royals Were Notably Absent When Trump Arrived At Buckingham Palace
On Monday, June 3, President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrived in London to kick off their visit to the United Kingdom. As soon as their plane touched down, the Trump family was rushed to Buckingham Palace and greeted by Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles. However, Harry, Meghan, William, and Kate didn't greet Trump at Buckingham Palace to welcome the president. So, it wasn't a huge family affair.
Once the first family arrived at Buckingham Palace, familiar faces like Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles, and Duchess Camilla of Cornwall greeted the Trumps and hosted a private lunch for them as a part of a welcome ceremony. However, the rest of the royal family was not in attendance, with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and Duke and Duchess of Cambridge notably absent. Despite not making it to the welcome ceremony, Harpers Bazaar reports that Prince William and Kate Middleton will attend the the evening celebration later on Monday.
Even though William and Kate are apparently joining the celebration later, there's no word as to whether Harry and Meghan will be in attendance. Truth be told, I wouldn't hold my breath. After all, it's well known that Trump didn't get invited to their wedding that took place on May 19, 2018.
Of course, there could be a slightly more dramatic reason why Markle won't meet with Trump. Markle has been an outspoken critic of Trump and his policies since he landed the presidency in 2016, calling him "divisive" and "misogynistic" while speaking to The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore in November 2017. "Trump has made it easy to see that you don’t really want that kind of world that he’s painting," she reportedly went on to say.
And on Friday, May 31, Trump was interviewed by The Sun and asked about Markle's comments towards him. Judging by Trump's reply, it looks like this was the first he's heard of it. "I didn’t know that. What can I say? I didn’t know that she was nasty," Trump reportedly said.
Trump decided to roll back on his comments about Markle by taking to Twitter on Sunday, June 2. In the tweet, Trump denied ever calling the Duchess of Sussex "nasty," despite the fact that there seems to be audio evidence of it. He wrote,
I never called Meghan Markle “nasty.” Made up by the Fake News Media, and they got caught cold! Will @CNN, @nytimes and others apologize? Doubt it!
After visiting with the royal family, Trump will meet with Prime Minister Theresa May on Tuesday, June 4 to discuss climate change and Chinese technology firm Huawei, BBC reports. The visit comes at a controversial time for May, who resigned from her position as the United Kingdom Prime Minister on May 24. Her three-year leadership will officially come to a close on June 7.
Despite not receiving a large welcome, Trump has other matters to worry about than the royal family's attendance. The UK visit is certainly off to an interesting start.
