While the US president was enamoured with the monarch on his recent trip to the US, the same cannot be said for their first meeting at Clarence House in 2019
King Charles has recently wrapped up a whirlwind four-day state visit to the United States, in which he and Queen Camilla were hosted by the President and First Lady in Washington DC. Throughout their visit, Trump was particularly gushing of the monarch, calling him “fantastic”, “brave”, and dubbing him “the greatest King”.
But according to a new book, these compliments are a far cry from how Trump felt when he first met Charles, back when he was still the Prince of Wales in 2019. The pair first met in Clarence House six years ago, and had a conversation over tea.
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According to former White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham, President Trump described the conversation as “terrible”, with the claim now being backed up in a new book by Washington Bureau Chief Susan Page, titled The Queen and Her Presidents.
In the book, 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 states, according to The Telegraph.
“Afterward, Trump told Grisham that the conversation had been terrible. ‘Nothing but climate change,’ Trump groused, rolling his eyes. 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.”
Following the 2019 meeting, Trump spoke to ITV and 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 a good climate, as opposed to a disaster. And I agree,” he said at the time. “I believe that there’s a change in weather, and I think it changes both ways.”
In the years since their first meeting, Trump has warmed to Charles and spoke highly of the monarch’s successful trip to the US.
As the King left the US capital, 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!”
When the historic trip came to a close last week, a senior royal aide said the relationship between Charles and Trump was genuine, and the two men hold a lot of respect for each other.
“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.”
