Donald Trumpand wifeMelania Trumparrived in the U.K. on Monday for acontroversial three-day state visitand they came bearing gifts.
According to the White House the president, 72, and first lady, 49, presentedQueen Elizabethwith a Tiffany & Co. silver and silk poppy brooch with a custom, White House wood jewelry container placed inside a red leather box.
The Queen, 93, had gifts of her own for the Trumps: For the president, she brought an abridged, crimson first edition of Winston Churchill’sThe Second World Waradorned with gold tooled embroidery along the outer cover, spine and inner cover, according to Buckingham Palace.
The Queen gave Mrs. Trump a “specially commissioned silver box” with a “handcrafted enamel lid” featuring a royal blue center that was designed to match the ceiling of the Buckingham music room. Like the president’s gift, the box also has the gold EIIR cypher.
This week’s visit was not the first time gifts have been exchanged between the royal family and the Trumps. When the president made a working visit to the U.K. last summer, he brought a pewter horse for the Queen — thoughhe failed to recognizethe gift while touring some of the royal artwork on Monday.
Donald Trump, Queen Elizabeth, Melania Trump, Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall.PA Images/Sipa
Tim Knox, the Royal Collection’s director, said later that the president did not recall the horse’s history at first.
“We just asked him whether he recognized it and he said no but the first lady did recognize it, which is rather nice,” Knox recalled to reporters.
“One horse is very much like another,” Knox explained. “[Mrs. Trump] recognized it. She said, ‘Oh yeah, yeah, this is one of ours.’ “
A divisive figure in the U.K., Trump’s visit hasbeen met with protests.
As he was landing in London on Monday, he attacked thecity’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, calling him a “stone cold loser.” Last week, he calledMeghan Markle‘s criticism of him as a presidential candidate “nasty” — a remarkhe continued to defendwhile in the U.K.
source: people.com
