𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Prince William and King Charles are being lined up as the UK’s secret weapons to build relations with new US President Donald Trump.

The charm offensive could include a royal visit to the US next year when America will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

Downing Street believes Mr Trump has a soft spot for the royals, as confirmed by Foreign Secretary David Lammy this morning. Mr Lammy said in an interview: “The Donald Trump I met was a man who had incredible grace, generosity, very keen to be a good host, very funny, very friendly, very warm about the UK, our Royal Family, Scotland.”

Mr Trump was full of praise for Prince William after the pair met last year in Paris for the re-opening of Notre Dame cathedral. He said: “He looked really, very handsome last night. Some people look better in person. He looked great. He looked really nice, and I told him that.”

He said: “We had a great talk for half an hour, a little more than half an hour. We had a great, great talk,”

And Mr Trump was visibly delighted when he met the late Queen Elizabeth II during a state visit to the UK in 2019, and was guest of honour at a Buckingham Palace banquet.

He called the Queen a “great, great woman”, and later claimed: “Many people have said I was her favourite president.”

The UK is to pull out all the stops to build relations with Mr Trump in a bid to persuade him not to impose tariffs on UK exports to the US. An analysis by Boston Consulting Group warned this could cost the UK £2.5 billion every year.

Downing Street also wants to work closely with Mr Trump on a peace deal for Ukraine, which could involve British and French troops being sent to Ukraine as peacekeepers as well as allowing Russia to keep some of the territory it seized during its attempted invasion.

And there is concern about Mr Trump’s commitment to NATO, after he suggested in the past that the US might not honour its treaty commitments to defend a NATO member when they are attacked unless the other members increase their defence budgets.

Relations appear to have got off to a bad start as members of Sir Keir Starmer’s cabinet have previously attacked Mr Trump, For example, Mr Lammy called him a “tyrant” and “xenophobic”.

However some Washington experts say the new President is more interested in “doing a deal” than worrying about personal attacks from the past. JD Vance, the new vice-president, once called Mr Trump an “idiot” and said he was “reprehensible” but that did not stop Mr Trump picking him as running mate in last year’s elections.

Evie Aspinall, director of the British Foreign Policy Group think tank, told website Politico: “Trump is a deal maker, but he also is very proud, and he likes big, grand gestures and feeling important.

“The royal family, to him, is the epitome of ‘I’ve made it,’ and so meeting the royal family is a real opportunity, particularly for him.”