William And Charles Snubbed Trump During His 2018 UK Visit
Somewhat surprisingly, there was a time when the British royal family appeared to outright ignore Former President Donald Trump's presence. During his 4-day visit to the UK, in July 2018, alongside his wife Melania Trump, only Queen Elizabeth II saw them while other family members like King Charles III and William, Prince of Wales, remained noticeably absent from their public meetings. An insider later confirmed to The Sunday Times that the father and son's absence was entirely intentional. "This business of Prince Charles and Prince William not being there for the Trump visit was a snub," they shared. "They simply refused to attend. It's a very, very unusual thing for the queen to be there on her own." Further, one source claimed that Trump didn't even get to speak with Her Majesty for too long because their meeting was kept as brief as possible.
This behavior notably wasn't customary since the royals had gone above and beyond for the Obamas in the past. However, a palace spokesperson later clarified to People that Charles and William were never supposed to meet the Trumps in the first place, and everybody was aware that only the queen would do so. The insider also asserted that the royals had followed protocol surrounding political visits by letting their so-called "Head of State" welcome them. While there's no way of knowing if the move was actually a snub or a part of the general flow of things, there are a few reasons why Charles and William may not have wanted to grace Trump with their presence.
Donald Trump has made offensive remarks about the royal family
In 2012, Catherine, Princess of Wales' privacy was violated by paps who snapped topless photos of her sunbathing and shared them with various tabloid magazines. While most normal people were understandably furious about the gross breach, Donald Trump took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to share his decidedly unsympathetic take, writing, "Kate Middleton is great — but she shouldn't be sunbathing in the nude — only herself to blame." He doubled down on his beliefs in another tweet: "Who wouldn't take Kate's picture and make lots of money if she does the nude sunbathing thing? Come on Kate!" As you might've guessed, the royal family wasn't too pleased.
King Charles III, in particular, was reportedly furious with Trump over the comments. In Christopher Andersen's biography, "The King," he shared a royal butler's claim that the former president's words brought "torrents of profanity" from Charles, as well as from his sons William, Prince of Wales, and Prince Harry (via Newsweek). If that wasn't enough reason to warrant a snub, Trump also supposedly made some bizarre remarks about the late Diana, Princess of Wales, just a few months after her passing. In 1997, the former "Apprentice" host reportedly appeared on Howard Stern's radio show and disgustingly bragged that he would've had sex with Diana in a heartbeat provided she took an HIV test first.
In "The King," Andersen wrote that the royal family wasn't particularly fond of Trump because he also tried to date the princess shortly after her divorce. The Firm probably wasn't best pleased with all the times Trump blatantly broke royal protocol with Queen Elizabeth II either.
Donald Trump and King Charles met up to talk about climate change
Former President Donald Trump has seemingly never believed that climate change is a serious problem. When the controversial politician spoke on "60 Minutes" in 2018, he asserted his belief that the climate crisis wasn't all made up. However, he wasn't sure that humans were responsible for damaging the planet and ultimately didn't want to shell out gigantic sums to improve things. On the other side of the pond, King Charles III has always tried to shine a light on the serious issue and has long advocated for policy changes to protect our planet.
Charles cemented his dedication to the ongoing crisis by bringing it up with Trump when he visited the UK in 2019. Later, the then-president gave an ITV interview, where he noted that His Majesty had taken the lead in their conversation and even recalled some of his most "insightful" takeaways from the chat: "What he really wants, and what he really feels warmly about, is the future." The former president continued, "He wants to make sure future generations have climate that is good climate, as opposed to a disaster. And I agree," (via CNN).
Trump also recalled how he defended his country with one dubious statement: "The United States right now has among the cleanest climates there are." However, in former White House aide Stephanie Grisham's memoir "I'll Take Your Questions Now," she claimed that he wasn't too happy with Charles after their meeting. In fact, Grisham divulged that the president seemed miffed by the royal's desire to keep their chat solely focused on the climate crisis.