A private meeting between Donald Trump and the King will not take place before a full state visit, as was initially proposed in a letter of invitation from the monarch, Sky News understands.
It’s understood this has been accepted and appreciated by all parties.
It has been suggested the complexities of both principals’ diaries has meant a private meeting is not possible over the course of the summer months, and thus the formal planning for an official state visit has begun.
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It appears the visit is likely to take place in September, as mentioned previously by Mr Trump, but this has not been officially confirmed by Buckingham Palace.
The palace has confirmed that last week the “manu regia” was hand-delivered by representatives from the UK’s Washington embassy to the White House.
This is the hand-signed formal invitation from the King to President Trump for a second state visit.
This follows the initial correspondence from His Majesty, which outlined one way in which a visit or visits might be arranged would be through an initial private meeting.
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Confirmation of the dates of the state visit will follow in due course in the normal way.
A palace aide said: “His Majesty has known President Trump for many years and looks forward to hosting him and the First Lady later this year.”
There have been reports the decision not to hold a private meeting before a state visit was going against the King’s wishes but the palace continues to stress that the King has continued to act on the advice of government, and that the palace and government remain fully aligned and mutually supportive in the preparations for the visit.
