For the first time, First Lady Melania Trump and the Princess of Wales will be teaming up for a joint engagement. It's a highly anticipated collaboration that did not occur during President Donald Trump's first term — but one the First Lady, HELLO! has learned, is looking forward to. The office of the First Lady told HELLO! that the upcoming engagement with the Princess is "absolutely" a highlight for Mrs. Trump on this second state visit to the United Kingdom.
On Thursday, Melania will join Kate at Frogmore Gardens to meet Chief Scout, Dwayne Fields, and members of the Scouts' Squirrels program as they learn about nature to earn their "Go Wild" badge. During the outing, the pair are expected to participate in leaf stamping and bug house identification.
When the First Lady and her husband visited the UK at the invitation of Queen Elizabeth in 2019, Catherine attended the state banquet at Buckingham Palace, but she and Mrs. Trump did not carry out an engagement just the two of them. This time around, the Prince and Princess of Wales have played a key role.
On the first official day of the unprecedented state visit, Prince William and Kate greeted the American President and First Lady on the grounds of Windsor Castle and accompanied them to meet King Charles. The Waleses also participated in the carriage procession through the Windsor Estate on Wednesday, and in the evening, attended the glittering state banquet for the President and First Lady.
© Andrew Parsons / Kensington PalaThe President has spoken fondly of Prince William in the past. The month after he was elected the 47th president of the United States, President Trump and the Prince of Wales had a "warm, friendly meeting" in Paris, where they were in town for the re-opening ceremony of Notre-Dame.
"Good man, this one," the President said as he and William posed for photos at the UK Ambassador's residence in the French capital. "He's doing a fantastic job." President Trump later shared with the New York Post that he and William had a "great talk" and called the Prince a "good looking guy." "He looked really, very handsome last night," President Trump said of the heir to the throne. "Some people look better in person? He looked great. He looked really nice, and I told him that."
While in Scotland this past July, the President remarked that his second state visit to the UK was "gonna be great and being with Charles and Camilla and everybody, I've gotten to know because of four years and now six months, gotten to know a lot of the family members. They're great people. They're really great people. And in that sense, I think that the UK is very lucky."
