Trump to return to Buckingham Palace for Nato reception with Queen but Prince Andrew not invited

Duke conspicuously missing from guest list after disastrous Newsnight interview

Jon Sharman
Wednesday 27 November 2019 02:18 GMT
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Donald Trump will return to Buckingham Palace next week, five months on from his pomp-and-ceremony state visit in the summer.

The US president and his wife Melania are due to attend a reception for Nato leaders hosted by the Queen next Tuesday. It is part of a string of events designed to mark 70 years since the founding of the alliance, about which Mr Trump has frequently complained.

However, Prince Andrew is not on the guest list.

The duke has not been named by the palace as attending, in the wake of his damaging BBC Newsnight interview in which he was grilled on his friendship with the convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and allegations he had sex with a 17-year-old girl.

Many other members of the royal family will be present, with the monarch to be flanked by Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall when she greets her guests and their partners.

Other royals attending include the Duchess of Cambridge, the Earl of Wessex, the Princess Royal, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester and Princess Alexandra. The Duke of Cambridge will be away on an official visit to the Middle East.

Andrew has stood down from all public duties after he was criticised for showing little sympathy with Epstein’s victims and no remorse for his friendship with the disgraced financier. He has denied all wrongdoing.

At the weekend, Buckingham Palace announce the duke had relinquished his role as patron of more than 230 groups in the wake of the criticism.

With all the Queen’s children attending the prestigious palace event bar him, it appears likely he would have been there had the furore not erupted.

During the reception the Queen and Charles will pose for a group photo with all the world leaders.

Mr Trump has repeatedly derided the military alliance, describing it in a tweet as “obsolete and disproportionately too expensive (and unfair) for the US”, and saying its other members do not pay enough to maintain their own defence.

In June, the Republican enjoyed a ceremonial welcome and banquet at Buckingham Palace during his state visit. He later boasted about having “automatic chemistry” with the Queen, and praised her as a “spectacular woman”.

The reception next week will likely be a welcome – and showy – respite from Mr Trump’s domestic political woes. On Tuesday he was officially invited to attend impeachment investigation hearings and was told he could, in effect, show up or shut up about the process.

Additional reporting by PA

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