Trump meets royals, stirs controversy in U.K.

President Donald Trump arrived at Buckingham Palace on Monday for a three-day state visit to the United Kingdom. The palace welcomed the president and first lady Melania Trump with a royal gun salute. The Trumps had lunch with Queen Elizabeth and members of the royal family and tea with Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, the duchess of Cornwall. The president and first lady are scheduled to attend a state dinner at Buckingham Palace on Monday night.

Trump’s visit is largely ceremonial. He will participate in a commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the June 6, 1944, D-Day invasion during World War II. He also will make his first presidential visit to Ireland on Wednesday to meet with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar.

Before landing in London, the president took to Twitter to spar with London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who said the president did not deserve a red carpet reception in Britain because he represented “one of the most egregious examples of a growing global threat” to liberal democracy. Trump said the mayor was “foolishly ‘nasty’ to the visiting President of the United States, by far the most important ally of the United Kingdom” and called Khan a “stone cold loser.”

The president said he might meet with pro-Brexit politicians, including prime ministerial hopeful Boris Johnson, whom he recently endorsed. Prime Minister Theresa May is due to step down on Friday after failing to negotiate a Brexit transition plan that Parliament would support. “I think Boris would do a very good job. I think he would be excellent,” Trump told The Sun. “I don't know that he is going to be chosen, but I think he is a very good guy, a very talented person.”

Large-scale protests against Trump are planned in London and across the United Kingdom starting Monday afternoon.