U.S. President Donald Trump is to make a state visit to Britain on June 3-5, just ahead of D-Day commemorations in France, officials said on Tuesday, as campaigners announced large-scale protests against him.
Mr. Trump is a strong supporter of Brexit but has been highly critical of the way Prime Minister Theresa May has sought to implement the result of the 2016 referendum. Mr. Trump and First Lady Melania will be guests of Queen Elizabeth II, 93, becoming only the third U.S. presidential couple to receive the honour.
Mr. Trump will also hold talks with Ms. May during the trip, with the issue of post-Brexit trade ties looming large. “We do more together than any two nations in the world and we are both safer and more prosperous because of our cooperation,” Ms. May said in a statement on the visit. She said it would be “an opportunity to strengthen our already close relationship in areas such as trade, investment, security and defence, and to discuss how we can build on these ties in the years ahead.”
The pomp associated with state visits will prove particularly controversial in Britain, where House of Commons Speaker John Bercow has already said he does not want the U.S. President to address Parliament.
Ms. May invited Mr. Trump for a state visit in January 2017 when she went to Washington just days after he took office.
An online petition to cancel Mr. Trump’s state visit reached 1.9 million signatures in 2017 and the trip has been delayed several times since then.