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And He’s Gone
There was a palpable sense of relief as the most controversial state visit in recent history drew to a close today, following a powerful moment of international unity as world leaders, including Her Majesty and His Trumpness, gathered at the British town of Portsmouth to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings (when the allies invaded occupied France in June 1944).
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They wouldn’t comment to the Daily Beast on the record, but the palace has every reason to be thrilled with how the visit turned out; protests were much more muted than had been feared and the program ran like clockwork. Indeed, the only fly in the scheduling ointment was that on Monday, Trump and Melania arrived at Prince Charles’ official residence, Clarence House, four minutes late for tea. Tsk tsk.
Awkward moments were wisely avoided; the decision to skip the customary carriage ride through central London looked smart, the fact that Trump couldn’t stay at Buckingham Palace due to the ongoing program of renovations was convenient and suspicious minds might have thought the visit had been deliberately staged while Meghan was on maternity leave to spare her blushes.
Fundamentally, however, it all worked because other than the unfortunate rage-tweet at the Muslim mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, breaking protocol by dishing on his conversation with Prince Charles, and pondering what it would be like to nuke the world, Trump behaved himself throughout.
Remember the churchman pictured doing a cartwheel after the royal wedding? That basically sums up the atmosphere in the palace right now.
As they posed for the final photograph at the D-Day 75 commemoration event in Portsmouth, the president told the Queen, “It was a great honor to be with you,” and Her Majesty replied, “I hope you come to this country again soon.”
In other words; nice to have you, Mr. President, even nicer to have you gone.
Nasty Business
As Air Force One jetted out of UK airspace to Ireland, where Trump is due to meet the country’s premier before spending a few days at his golf resort on the West Coast, one lingering sour note was Trump’s inexplicable decision to double and triple down on his description of Meghan Markle’s comments about him as "nasty" in a Good Morning Britain interview with an embarrassingly over-familiar and flattering Piers Morgan.
“She was nasty to me. And that’s OK for her to be nasty,” Trump said.
Harry is thought to be irritated by Trump’s ill-judged attack on his wife, but Trump insisted to Morgan that they had a friendly chat.
“I congratulated him and I think he’s a terrific guy. The royal family is really nice,” Trump said. He denied there was any tension with Harry, saying, “No, no, no, just the opposite. In fact, he spent a lot of time talking to Ivanka and talking to my family. He couldn’t have been nicer. I think he was great.”
So the president tripled-down on calling Meghan Markle “nasty,” and sounded like a puerile teenager when bitching to Piers Morgan about it. Or a “stone cold loser,” as he might put it.
Trump royal fashion watch
The royals played it safe during the state visit, with Camilla in various flouncy white dresses and the queen in her usual siren block colors of blue and pink.
And the Trumps looked like they were starring in their own episode of Dynasty.
Fans will remember that the 1985 season the show ended with the Carringtons and Colbys in the fictional European country of Moldavia, where some terrorists shot everybody at the ceremony. (The next season, the principals miraculously roused themselves from the hail of bullets and carried on being vile to each other. And there was even a duplicate Krystle, but we digress.)
The shocks in London were restricted to the fashion variety. Everything was a little too much. On the final day, to commemorate D-Day, Melania wore a belted cream coat, which was very romantic rather than somber, and paired it with a hat, best described as a “sharp flying saucer.” Trump's hair, briefly slicked back over the weekend to make him look like a mobster on the Atkins Diet, returned to its usual squirrel-about-to-disappear self.
Both Melania and Ivanka have had a maximalist week, clothes-wise, notable for a sheer, dramatically sleeved red evening gown (Melania) and a strange Dalmatian-dotted day outfit (Ivanka).
The entire Trump family headed to London, including Tiffany, whose evening dresses looked more confining than delightful. They Instagrammed a lot of their journey, when not—yes, you Jared and Ivanka—lurking creepily behind curtains. (Surely, a royal servant should be dispatched to make sure they've actually gone.)
There were no fashion disasters, merely the lingering impression that the Trump family dresses as it comports itself on the national and international stage: they'll do it their way, thanks. If you think they look “too much,” they most surely don't care.
Very Common
Flattering Trump has been the order of the day on his three-day state visit, and guest Sarah Vine reported in the Daily Mail that the band played “Nobody Does it Better” for Trump at the state banquet. She also says the queen served potato chips, which has left the Royalist aghast at what the world is coming too. (Unless they're Tyrrells, in which case: carry on).
Surprise
Another guest at the state banquet was Rose Hanbury, Prince William’s next door neighbor in Norfolk who, according to William’s lawyers, he is definitely not having an affair with. That she was on the list was not entirely shocking as her husband, David, the Marquess of Cholmondeley (pronounced Chumley) holds one of the great hereditary offices of state, Lord Great Chamberlain. What was a little surprising was the position Rose was assigned in the procession into the banqueting hall: Last.
Hot Air
There was much speculation that Trump would lose his cool when Prince Charles started banging on about saving the planet. “What he really wants and what he feels strongly about is the future. He wants the best climate for the future,” Trump told Morgan. “I think we had a great conversation about—as you would call it—climate change.” (Well, a lot of people, including the world's most eminent scientists, call it that.)
How long was the lecture? Said Trump, “We were going to have a 15-minute chat, and it turned out into an hour and a half. He did most of the talking.”
Of course, that may be turn out to be as true as Trump claiming that he had lots of supporters cheering him on in London.
