When Donald Trump strode into Windsor Castle this week in white tie, flanked by King Charles III and Queen Camilla, it wasn’t just another state dinner.
It was Britain’s oldest political trick deploying the monarchy as a velvet glove to soften a hard negotiation.The soaring banquet hall, filled with nearly a thousand years of heraldry, wasn’t just a backdrop; it was a stage.
Every polished suit of armour and gilded goblet was calculated to make Trump feel not just welcomed, but enthroned.
For Britain, the stakes were high. With Trump’s second term already marked by tariffs, transactional diplomacy, and the unraveling of Western alliances, London needed leverage. The royal family, still Britain’s most effective soft power tool, provided it.
Unlike the star studded dinners of yesteryears think Hollywood names or fashion royalty this banquet was stocked with people who wield real influence.
At the 160 seat table were Wall Street titans like Blackstone’s Stephen Schwarzman and Bank of America’s Brian Moynihan, tech heavyweights like Sam Altman, Demis Hassabis, Satya Nadella, Marc Benioff, and Apple’s Tim Cook, plus media barons like Rupert Murdoch.
The symbolism was obvious: Britain wanted Trump to see that its royals could convene a pantheon of the global elite in his honour.
The message this is the club you still belong to, provided you play nice with us.
Tim Cook’s presence was particularly striking. Barely weeks ago, he was in Trump’s bad books for skipping a Middle East trip.
Yet here he was, seated beside Tiffany Trump, as if the Windsor seating chart itself was an act of reconciliation.
King Charles used his toast to strike a balance lavishing praise on Anglo American friendship, while inserting subtle nudges about climate and Ukraine.
The king knows Trump’s views on both issues are, at best, sceptical. But the gentle prod, wrapped in regal ceremony, seemed unlikely to provoke the famously thin skinned president.
Trump, for his part, basked in the flattery.
