ROX• TV | A trip or a powerful card to play? The King and Trump

In his toast to King Charles at the lavish state banquet that capped a day of pomp and celebration at Windsor Castle, Donald Trump rose up to heap praise on the monarch, the British empire and the ties between the UK and the US.

“The bond of kinship and identity between America and the United Kingdom is priceless and eternal. It’s irreplaceable and unbreakable,” the US president said, before declaring: “We’ve done more good for humanity than any two countries in all of history together.”

For hours, Trump had been soaking up the glory of his second state visit to the UK, with all the pageantry and flattery of the occasion. And when it came time for the King to say a few introductory words, he gave a nod to the president’s peacemaking efforts, which are struggling to bear fruit in both Gaza and Ukraine, that will have been music to Trump’s ears.

“Our countries are working together in support of crucial diplomatic efforts, not least of which, Mr President, is your own personal commitment to finding solutions to some of the world’s most intractable conflicts in order to secure peace,” the King said.

The banquet table featured guests ranging from top officials in both governments to business leaders from both countries.

Steve Schwarzman, the Blackstone chief executive, sat next to Sir Keir Starmer, the British prime minister. Tim Cook, the Apple chief executive, sat next to Tiffany Trump, the president’s daughter. Marco Rubio, US secretary of state, sat by the King, while Scott Bessent, US Treasury secretary, flanked the Queen. Rupert Murdoch of News Corp attended, as did Jensen Huang of Nvidia, Sam Altman of OpenAI and Jane Fraser of Citigroup.

The main course was organic Norfolk chicken ballotine wrapped in courgettes.

However, Trump’s time with the royal family and their company may well be the high point of the visit for the president. On Thursday, he will travel to Chequers, Starmer’s country residence outside London, for potentially tense talks with the British premier about the Middle East and the war in Ukraine, all with the legacy of convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein casti