Palace: Trump to pay state visit to Britain in June

LONDON — U.S. President Donald Trump will pay a state visit to Britain in June as a guest of Queen Elizabeth II, Buckingham Palace said Tuesday.

Trump and his wife, Melania, have “accepted an invitation from Her Majesty The Queen to pay a State Visit to the United Kingdom,” officials said. The visit will take place June 3-5.

Trump made an official trip to the U.K. last summer, though that was not a state visit, which typically features royal pomp including a banquet with the queen at Buckingham Palace.

Prime Minister Theresa May extended the invitation for a state visit more than two years ago, but the trip has been deferred amid concerns about the president’s reception and Britain’s extended crisis over Brexit.

“The State Visit is an opportunity to strengthen our already close relationship in areas such as trade, investment, security and defense, and to discuss how we can build on these ties in the years ahead,” May said.

Trump is also expected to attend 75th anniversary commemorations of the World War II D-Day landings in June.

Nations that took part in Operation Overlord and the D-Day landings alongside the U.K. have been also been invited to attend the event in Portsmouth.

They include the US, Canada, France, Australia, New Zealand, Belgium, Luxembourg, Poland, Norway, Denmark, Netherlands, Greece, and Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Germany has also been invited in keeping with previous D-Day commemorative events.