Queen Elizabeth II said Donald Trump was "very rude" after he visited Britain during his presidency, and believed that the president "must have an arrangement" with wife, Melania Trump, to maintain their marriage, the late monarch's biographer has claimed in a new book.
In an extract of the upcoming title Q: A Voyage Around The Queen by author Craig Brown, which has been published by the Daily Mail in Britain, readers have been given an insight into the personal beliefs of the intensely private monarch.
Writing of her 70-year reign, Brown recounts that she was regularly met and "entertained many controversial leaders." One of these, he notes, was the then-President Trump.
Trump met the queen while in office on several occasions. In 2018 he was invited, with the first lady, to take tea with the monarch at Windsor Castle. A year later he was invited to take part in an official state visit to Britain, forming one of the highlights of his presidency. There, the president and the Trump family were ceremonially welcomed and hosted at Buckingham Palace by the queen and members of the royal family, being guest of honor at a state banquet and meeting British politicians.
Though the monarch did not publicly reveal her personal feelings about the world leaders and high-profile figures she met, in his new book, Brown claims that she was far from complimentary about Trump.
"A few weeks after President Trump's visit, she confided in a lunch guest that she found him 'very rude,'" he wrote. "Particularly disliking the way he couldn't stop looking over her shoulder, as though in search of others more interesting.
"She also believed Trump 'must have an arrangement' with wife Melania—why else would she remain married to him?"
Newsweek approached representatives of Trump and Buckingham Palace via email for comment.
Trump has repeatedly spoken of his state visit to Britain with warmth in the years since 2019, claiming that he and the late queen struck up an unlikely bond.
"We had a great time and then they honored the United States but they honored me that night which is really the honor of the country, and it was at the top level," he told GB News in April 2022.
"And I sat next to her and we talked the whole night. And somebody said, 'we've never seen her smile so much.' We had a great time. She was laughing and smiling. They said they've never seen her have such a good time at a state dinner. You know, normally they're a little boring. Okay, this wasn't boring."
When the queen died on September 8, 2022, Trump penned a 700-word tribute to her life and reign, saying: "Spending time with Her Majesty was one of the most extraordinary honors of my life."
Q: A Voyage Around The Queen by Craig Brown will be available in the U.S. from October 1, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek's royal reporter, based in London. You can find him on X (formerly Twitter) at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.
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