There are only two weeks left until Donald Trump’s inauguration as the 47th President of the United States.
(This occasion will be a sad one for fans of Grover Cleveland, who has lived in the White House twice, as he is the only president to serve nonconsecutive terms. ).
Now, it probably doesn’t need to be said that Trump has a talent for showmanship and tends to be a bit competitive with past presidents.
So it’s no surprise that the former reality TV host is taking steps to make the inauguration one of the most memorable (and, yes, biggest) in history.
According to recent reports, CNNOne way President Trump plans to set this occasion apart from previous inaugurations is by inviting a number of foreign leaders and dignitaries to attend the swearing-in ceremony.
The newspaper reported that President Trump’s team immediately invited Chinese President Xi Jinping, but it is still unclear whether President Xi Jinping will attend the ceremony.
And now, fox news reports that the leader of the world’s most populous country could be joined by a very famous representative of our country’s closest ally.
Royal expert Neal Schon said in an article for the same media that an insider said, “Prince William, Duchess Kate, and the royal couple have all been invited to President Trump’s inauguration on January 20th in Washington, D.C. He said that he was told that there was.
Prince William met with President Trump last month while he was in Paris for the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral.
The two spoke at length, and then President Trump praised the future king.
So it’s easy to believe Sean’s claims that royals are being invited to the inauguration. But will they attend?
The “special relationship” between the United States and Britain is of paramount importance to both countries, and refusing the invitation could be seen as an insulting slight.
But President Trump’s history with the royal family is long and complicated, and Charles and his wife may decide it’s best to avoid the ceremony.
Before his re-election, President Trump hinted that he planned to deport Prince Harry following revelations of drug use in his 2023 memoir.
And President Trump’s son Eric Trump also made derogatory comments about Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan in October 2024.
It is clear that the relationship between the royal family and Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan is not good at this point. But Prince William probably still has greater loyalty to his brother than he does to the American politician, with whom he had his first conversation just a few weeks ago.
And the royal family certainly knows that attending the inauguration will be seen as an endorsement of Trump — and doing so would violate the royal family’s longstanding tendency to remain neutral in foreign politics.
In short, if I had to guess, the royal family would. do not have Get ready for the inauguration. But then again, 2025 has already surprised us many times, and we’re not even a week old yet.
