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Trump and the First Lady Participate in a State Banquet, Sep. 17, 2025

September 17, 2025 · The White House · 0:18:57

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

King Charles III hosted President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump at a state banquet in St. George’s Hall, Windsor Castle, on September 17, 2025, during the President’s second state visit to the United Kingdom — an honor the King noted was unique. The speeches were carried on the White House channel.

The King welcomed the President by saying the occasion “reflects the enduring bond between our two great nations — anchored by the deep friendship between our people, this relationship, which with good reason we and our predecessors have long called special, has made us safer and stronger through the generations.” Approaching the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, he marveled at how far the two countries had come since George Washington vowed never to set foot on British soil and George III “did not spare his words” about the revolutionary leaders: “Today, however, we celebrate a relationship between our two countries that surely neither Washington nor King George III could possibly have imagined.” He praised the partnership’s record — the first trade deal of the administration, the foundations of nuclear science, the mapping of the human genome, the internet, the AUKUS submarine partnership — noted the President’s “own personal commitment to finding solutions to some of the world’s most intractable conflicts in order to secure peace,” and proposed a toast “to President Trump and the First Lady, and to the health, prosperity, and happiness of the people of the United States of America.”

The President replied that he and the First Lady were “deeply grateful” to the King and Queen Camilla, calling the visit “a singular privilege — to be the first American president welcomed here” for a second state visit, and “truly one of the highest honors of my life.” He praised the King as a man who had “epitomized the fortitude, nobility, and the spirit of the British monarchy and the British people” for many decades.

Why it matters

The banquet speeches are the ceremonial center of the second state visit — the King and the President each putting the special-relationship case on the record in the other’s presence, a day before the Chequers agreements gave it substance. The visit’s diplomatic record on this site runs arrival ceremony, banquet, then press conference.

Sources: The White House, “President Trump and the First Lady Participate in a State Banquet” (official upload, embedded above; the upload’s description places the event in Windsor, United Kingdom). All characterizations as stated by the speakers in the broadcast.