Donald and Melania Trump’s unusual sleeping arrangement during their stay at Windsor Castle has been revealed by insiders. The US President will reportedly sleep in a separate suite to his wife while in the UK for a state visit, with the couple also sleeping in their own sheets carried over the Atlantic. Members of Donald Trump’s team purportedly looked over the room where the leader of the free world would be staying and judged the royal bedding to not be up to it. The President’s squad are said to have then provided housekeepers at the castle, who brought his preferred bed linen.
A courtier is believed to have joked that Trump was conscious of staining the bed clothes with his tanning chemicals. King Charles, Queen Camilla, Prince William and Princess Kate welcomed the President and his wife to the 11th-century castle earlier today. The guests were greeted outside Victoria House, a little-known property nestled in the Royal Kitchen Gardens at Frogmore, before enjoying a carriage ride to the Quadrangle.
Ephraim Hardcastle wrote in the Daily Mail: “Below-stairs wags, noting that Melania has a separate suite, joke that if she’d asked for a water bed she could effortlessly drift apart from Donald.”
Mr Trump will meet with Sir Keir Starmer at Chequers, the UK Prime Minister’s country residence in Buckinghamshire, tomorrow.
This afternoon, the royals and First Couple exchanged gifts, with the King and Queen gifting Mr Trump a bespoke, hand-bound leather book specially crafted by the Royal Bindery in Windsor Castle to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, as well as the union flag that was hoisted above Buckingham Palace on the day of the president’s inauguration earlier this year.
To Mrs Trump, King Charles and Queen Camilla gifted a silver and enamel bowl featuring the Queen’s cypher crafted by Northern Irish artist Cara Murphy, a renowned silversmith who has created works for Downing Street and the Grand National.
The First Lady received a personalised Anya Hindmarch handbag.
The royal couple gave their visitors a silver photograph frame engraved with their joint cyphers.
The King received a replica of a President Eisenhower Sword which, according to Buckingham Palace, symbolises “profound respect” and acts as a “reminder of the historical partnership that was critical” to winning World War 2.
The Queen was gifted a Tiffany & Co vintage 18-carat gold, diamond and ruby flower brooch.
A state banquet is due to be held at the castle this evening.