Trump heads to UK for rare second state visit, then to Arizona for Charlie Kirk’s funeral

President Donald Trump will make a state visit to the UK this week, marking his second such stop during his presidency. Later in the week, Trump will travel to Arizona to attend the funeral of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

Trump’s return to England is unusual, as U.S. presidents rarely make more than one state visit during their time in office, underscoring both the political and symbolic weight of the occasion. 

Trump and first lady Melania Trump will be hosted by King Charles III and Queen Camilla at Windsor Castle. Buckingham Palace is under renovation. The Trumps will also meet with Prince William and Princess Catherine of Wales during their visit.

Following a formal welcome, Trump will take part in a series of ceremonial events, including a carriage procession, a gun salute and a flyover by military fighter jets. 

Festivities will culminate with a lavish state dinner. An estimated 150 guests are typically invited to the state dinner based on their cultural, diplomatic or economic links to the country being hosted.

Darren McGrady, who was a personal chef to the late Queen Elizabeth II, Princess Diana and her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, told Fox News Digital there is no room for error when it comes to the menu. He served as a royal chef for 15 years and cooked for five U.S. presidents.

Trump will head to Chequers on Thursday, the country house of the sitting UK prime minister, where he’ll meet Keir Starmer for a series of bilateral meetings, followed by a joint news conference later that day.

Trump, 79, and King Charles, 76, have known each other for decades, dating back to Charles’s visit to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in the late 1980s. More recently, Charles sent Trump a personal note after he survived an assassination attempt during a rally in Butler, Pa. 

Trump will end his week traveling to Arizona to attend the funeral of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated on Wednesday. Kirk, the charismatic founder of Turning Point USA, was shot during an outdoor debate on the Utah Valley University campus.

In the wake of his death, Kirk’s widow, Erika, vowed to carry on her husband’s mission. ‘To everyone listening tonight across America, the movement my husband built will not die,’ Kirk said in a video statement on Friday. ‘I refuse to let that happen. No one will ever forget my husband’s name. And I will make sure of it. It will become stronger. Bolder. Louder and greater than ever,’ Kirk said.

Andrew Kolvet, executive producer of ‘The Charlie Kirk Show,’ wrote on X that in the past 48 hours, Turning Point USA has received more than 32,000 inquiries from people wanting to start new campus chapters. 

In a separate post, Kolvet wrote, ‘This is the Turning Point.’