The US President is known to be a huge fan of the Royal Family and to hold a particular admiration for Queen Elizabeth II. But in his latest opinions on the royals, he has picked an unexpected word to sum up the longest reigning Monarch in British history.
Top journalist, Susan Page, has just written a book about Elizabeth II and the US Presidents who held office during her reign and she’s spoken to some of them in her research. She has now revealed that Donald Trump believed Elizabeth II to be ”streetwise”.
In a surprising quote from the book, the US leader tells Susan Page that ”for a person that was never on the streets, she’s very streetwise.”
The US President had another one word summary of Queen Elizabeth II – genius. He told Susan Page that, during his State Visit to the UK in 2019, he had chatted endlessly with Queen Elizabeth II and had pressed her on who her favourite American leader was. He said she refused to be drawn and had said she’s liked them all. He noted that he got the same response when he asked her about her favourite Prime Minister. And he told the author ”I said to myself, how genius is this?”
President Trump spent several days with Queen Elizabeth II during the State Visit. They had met previously when he was invited to Windsor Castle.
He shared that he felt the two of them formed a strong bond, noting that ”we talked about everything” when he paid his State Visit to the UK in 2019. He added that ”we just get along.”
(Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok)
The book also highlights other Presidential relationships with Queen Elizabeth II, noting that she considered Ronald Reagan to be a friend and that she made more visits with George W Bush than any other leader, paying a State Visit to Washington as well as hosting him in London.
There’s another surprising revelation and it’s that Barack Obama has at least one thing in common with Donald Trump. Like the current US President, the former leader also pressed Elizabeth II on her favourite ever occupant of the White House.
President Obama asked, during his own State Visit in 2011, ”what about Eisenhower, what about Kennedy?” He got no further in finding a favourite that Donald Trump.
But some revelations are slightly less surprising. Jill Biden speaks about her meeting, alongside Joe Biden, with Queen Elizabeth II in 2021. They both noticed that as tea was served, Elizabeth II’s priority was sneaking a cheeky sandwich to one of her corgis.
The book, The Queen and her Presidents: the Hidden Hand that Shaped History, by Susan Page is published on April 23 2026 by Harper.
