Charles III puts the royal carriage in front of Donald Trump, but behind closed doors.

LondonRed carpet for Donald Trump in Windsor, under the typical English weather. Intermittent rain, especially early Wednesday morning, with rather heavy grey clouds that cleared up a bit by midday; 16 or 17 degrees and no trace of sun, despite the many dark glasses worn by the numerous security agents ensuring that nothing disrupts the second visit of the US president or adds further discomfort to the British authorities. This discomfort was expressed before the reception that King Charles III and Queen Camilla offered the tycoon and his wife, Melania, this afternoon, in the form of two videos that highlighted Trump's links to the pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, which were shown. Tuesday Night at the Sandstone from one of the castle towers.

Shortly before 12:30 p.m. local time, Marine One – the presidential helicopter – hovered over the lawns of Windsor Gardens so that Trump could begin to swell with the pomp and circumstance of the royals British, as if he were one too. Upon stepping off the plane, he was greeted by Prince William and Kate Middleton. The couple accompanied Trump and Melania to Charles III and Camilla, and 41 cannon salutes let those present know that the guest of honor had arrived.

After meeting the king, the president boarded the royal carriage – The Irish State Coach – in the company of the monarch. They took the ritual walk along the more than four kilometers of the so-called Long Walk in Windsor, but it was all very inbred: they do it alone. Because for security reasons – or to prevent Trump from feeling the more than predictable boos that he would suffer if he exposed himself to public view – the parade was behind closed doors, within the grounds of the castle estate. Elizabeth II said that a queen had to be seen to be believed (And have to be seen to be believed), but in Trump's case, nothing could be further from this slogan.

Nothing extra, then: neither detractors nor supporters, who have had to be content with showing their inclinations around the town's High Street, which has become for days a showcase of the toxic division that the President of the United States spreads wherever he goes, as he recalled this morning, in an article The Guardian, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan.

Television blockbuster

Thanks to the BBC, responsible for producing and broadcasting the blockbuster, the entire world has also had the opportunity to enjoy Trump's arrival, as well as the repeated playing of the national anthems of the United States and the United Kingdom, and to hear other ceremonial military music, including the sound of Scottish bagpipes. Inimitable British choreography on the green of the castle's parade ground, designed to impress a man who wanted to be impressed. Whether this serves to benefit the United Kingdom in general, in the form of trade agreements, is possibly another story. And whether it serves the premier, Keir Starmer, to improve his popularity rating, yet another.

The show continued when Trump and the king, among fair soldiers and guests of Lieutenant Colonel Green, reviewed the troops: "Mr. President, the guard of honor of the Grenadier Guards, the Coldstream Guards and the Scots Guards, the micro is present, from television it picked up without the need for subtitles. Trump, like a child playing with life-size toy soldiers, protagonist of the greatest ceremonial display that the monarchy offers to its American friend, did not know how to become happy.

This first day of the Republican US president's state visit is purely ceremonial. The morning spectacle continues this afternoon, accumulating symbols and extravagance. Another of the most significant events is the Beating Retreat., a A military ceremony held every year at Horse Guards Parade in London with an impressive display of bands, drums, bugles, and martial choreography. Traditional marches such as The British Grenadiers, Scipio either Highland Laddie, solemn hymns like God Save the King or the Rule, Britannia! The American national anthem is also due to be played, along with modern adaptations or popular pieces. What was supposed to be the icing on the military cake, an air display featuring the Red Arrows patrol and British and American F-35 aircraft, has finally been cancelled due to weather conditions.

And in the evening, the grand climax: the state banquet at St. George's Hall, with a fifty-meter-long table that will probably only need a GPS to locate the diners. There, among porcelain plates and two-hundred-year-old silver cutlery—which will never see a dishwasher—Trump will feel that the debt that history owed him, or that the British owe him, is finally being paid.

Meanwhile, in central London, far from the spectacle, a relatively low-key demonstration – some 5,000 people, according to Scotland Yard officials – against Trump’s presence, which began at two in the afternoon and will last at least until seven in the evening, with speeches in the square with only memories of the square, with speeches in the square, with speeches in the square, television.