The details of Donald Trump and King Charles III’s first meeting over tea have been revealed in a new royal book.
Last week, the King made the transatlantic trip to the White House, visiting the President and First Lady.
Mr Trump repeatedly lauded the sovereign as “fantastic” and “brave” before even revealing he was “jealous” of King Charles after his 30-minute Congress address.
“He’s a great King,” Donald Trump then said on Thursday, as the conclusion of the monarch’s trip loomed.
“The greatest King, in my book.”
However, the pair’s earlier meeting is said to have been a much more awkward and cold affair.
Following an encounter over tea at Clarence House in 2019, when the now King was still the Prince of Wales, Mr Trump was rather less gushing in his praise for the royal.
According to former White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham, President Trump described the conversation as “terrible”.
The details of Donald Trump and King Charles III’s first meeting over tea have been revealed
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This claim has now been backed up by Washington Bureau Chief Susan Page in her new book, The Queen and Her Presidents.
In this, Mrs Page claims the President was left “bored” by Charles at the time, frustrated because they spoke of “nothing but climate change”.
“Never mind that Trump had complained to aides that the then-Prince Charles bored him during their first meeting in 2019,” the book, being serialised in The Telegraph, states.
“Afterward, Trump told Grisham that the conversation had been terrible. ‘Nothing but climate change,’ Trump groused, rolling his eyes.
Donald and Melania Trump visited the UK in 2019 during his first term as President
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“Melania Trump confirmed that with a laugh. ‘Oh, yes, he was very bored,’ she said of her husband.
“But Trump said he had had a change of heart about Charles since then.”
Speaking to ITV following the 2019 meeting, the President insisted that Charles is “really into climate change”, although he hadn’t yet managed to convince him wholly.
“He wants to make sure future generations have climate that is good climate, as opposed to a disaster. And I agree,” he said. “I believe that there’s a change in weather, and I think it changes both ways.”
This contrasts sharply with the President’s gushing remarks for His Majesty throughout his most recent trip across the Atlantic.
Mr Trump revealed the US will lift Scottish whisky tariffs because of the monarch, as he wrote online: “The King and Queen got me to do something that nobody else was able to do, without hardly even asking!”
Following the historic trip, a senior royal aide revealed the niceties in the media extend beyond surface level.
“They get on very well. And it’s not just the King and the President. It’s all four of them with each other,” the Palace aide said.
“Given some of the issues that have presented themselves in the bilateral relationship, you’d think it might all be a bit tricky. But far from it.
“The warmth that you see in public is absolutely the warmth you see in private.”