King Charles III is “very concerned” that President Donald Trump might launch into an unfiltered rant regarding immigration while standing alongside him during his state visit to the United Kingdom in September via The Daily Beast.
A civil servant also told the Daily Beast that there was a risk Trump might upend protocol and make politicized comments when delivering a traditional speech at his state banquet.
Trump claimed a “horrible invasion” of migrants was “killing Europe” while visiting Scotland on Friday, a friend of the monarch told the Daily Beast.
The palace was already anxious about Trump’s visit because of his trolling of Canada—a British “realm” which counts the king as head of state—as the “51st state.”
However, those concerns pale in comparison to the prospect of Trump using the official visit with the king as a platform to make further inflammatory remarks about immigration in the U.K.
Immigration has also become a source of increasingly bitter division and public protest in the U.K. in recent months after figures showed that record numbers of so-called “small boats” laden with undocumented immigrants have landed on British shores this year.
There are genuine fears that riots triggered by anti-immigration protests could destroy the U.K. in the coming weeks. Hotels used to house migrants have seen violent protests flare, and Nigel Farage, the Reform U.K. leader credited with making Brexit happen, has warned that Britain is close to “civil disobedience on a vast scale” over the issue.
It was in this environment that, shortly after touching down on Air Force One at Glasgow Airport on Friday, Trump told waiting reporters on the tarmac: “You better get your act together or you’re not going to have Europe anymore. You’ve got to stop this horrible invasion that is happening to Europe, many countries in Europe.”
“Some leaders have not let it happen, and they’re not getting the proper credit,” Trump added. “I could name them to you right now, but I’m not going to embarrass the other ones. But stop, this immigration is killing Europe.”
The friend of the king told The Royalist, “Charles has spent his entire life promoting tolerance and compassion. He will be appalled by what Trump said on Friday, which seems to be entirely driven by his domestic agenda, and will be very concerned about the possibility of a repeat of Trump’s outburst in September.”
A civil servant told the Daily Beast that foreign visitors meeting the king are routinely advised that he is constitutionally apolitical and should not be involved in political controversy but said, “The trouble with Trump is, he doesn’t feel bound by the rules.”
The civil servant said the risks of Trump freewheeling with the media during the state visit were “priced in.” They said everything would be done to ensure the king would not be put in a position where he could be embarrassed.
