With political chaos roiling the United Kingdom, President Trump’s long-planned state visit to London was already shaping up to be an intense affair.
So leave it to Trump to stir the pot.
In an interview with The Sun newspaper, the president criticized the UK’s newest princess, sounded off on the election there and sent diplomats’ blood pressure skyrocketing on both sides of the Atlantic.
“I didn’t know that she was nasty,” he said Friday of Meghan Markle, the new Duchess of Sussex, on learning that the US-born former actress had accused Trump of being “divisive” and “misogynistic” during his 2016 presidential campaign.
Markle, who is still on maternity leave with her 3-week-old son Archie, was not expected to attend any of next week’s royal ceremonies.
Nevertheless, Trump said Markle will make a “very good” American princess.
In the same interview, he weighed in on the Conservative Party’s battle for the prime minister’s job.
“I think Boris would do a very good job,” Trump said of Boris Johnson, the former mayor of London who is a top contender for the slot. “I think he would be excellent.”
Trump previously said he might meet with Johnson and Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage.
“Nigel Farage is a friend of mine, Boris is a friend of mine, they’re two very good guys, very interesting people,” Trump said Thursday. “I think they are big powers over there. Maybe it’s not my business to support people. But I have a lot of respect for both of those men.”
The statements marked an “unacceptable interference” in Britain’s internal affairs, complained Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn on Saturday.
“The next prime minister should be chosen not by the US president, nor by 100,000 unrepresentative Conservative party members, but by the British people in a general election,” Corbyn fumed.
The president is set to arrive Monday morning after an overnight flight from Washington, DC, with an entourage that is expected to include First Lady Melania Trump and all four of his adult children, along with their spouses.
He told The Sun that he hopes Ivanka, Tiffany, Eric and Donald, Jr. will hold a “next-generation” meeting with Prince William, second in line to the British throne, and his brother Prince Harry.
“I think my children will be meeting them,” Trump said. “It would be nice.”
Queen Elizabeth II will formally greet the president at Buckingham Palace shortly after he arrives in London, where Trump will also meet Prince Charles and his wife Camilla for the first time.
Prince Andrew, Charles’ younger brother, will escort Trump to Westminster Abbey to lay a wreath at the grave of the Unknown Warrior, a British soldier killed in World War I. That evening, the Trumps will join the queen for a state banquet at the palace.
On Tuesday, as protesters amass less than half a mile away, he will hold his final bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Teresa May—who will step down as leader of her party on June 7—at her residence at 10 Downing Street.
He will leave the capital Wednesday for Portsmouth on Britain’s south coast to attend a ceremony marking the 75th anniversary of D-Day, a key turning point in World War II.
Some 33,000 demonstrators have signed up to besiege central London’s Trafalgar Square on Tuesday during Trump’s second full day in the capital city.
Groups including Stand Up to Trump and the Milkshakes Against Trump Bloc—which has made the act of hurling gooey frozen drinks at right-leaning politicians into a globally recognized meme—are expected to attend. So is the so-called Trump Baby, a 20-foot-tall satirical mini-blimp made in the image of the commander-in-chief that debuted during the president’s first visit to Britain, last July.