Her Majesty The Queen showed US President Donald Trump one of the first copies of the Declaration of Independence – signed on 4 July 1776 – in which the Thirteen American Colonies announced their independence from the Crown. On the throne at the time was King George III, who was Queen Elizabeth II’s great-great-great-great grandfather.
The specific copy shown to the President was one of 200 printed in 1781 by Francis Bailey.
Her Majesty also showed the President and First Lady Melania Trump other American artefacts and even golf photos of the Royal Family in a nod to the President’s love of the game. The Queen showed off images of her father, King George VI and uncle the Duke of Windsor (formerly King Edward VIII) playing golf in St Andrews, Scotland in the 1920s. Golf originated in Scotland in the 15th century.
Other items in the Picture Gallery included a piece of MacLeod tartan from the Royal Collections. The MacLeod’s are Trump’s maternal family, and he immediately recognised the print saying, “That’s my tweed.”
Correspondence from King George III and President George Washington (the first President of the United States) was also on display, as was Catesby’s Natural History which included a history of North and South Carolina, Florida, and the Bahamas.
The gift President Trump presented to The Queen last year at Windsor Castle sat on one table, and another table was dedicated to the 1939 Royal Visit in which President Franklin D. Roosevelt invited The Queen’s father to Washington. The invitation and itineraries were included. Photos of the King and Queen Elizabeth, later the Queen Mother, alongside President Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt in the President’s New York hometown, Hyde Park, were on display as was an image of the King at the US Capitol.
An image of George Washington was shown and a gift from President Dwight D. Eisenhower to King George VI was also able to be viewed.
