President Trump has declared that the late Queen considered him her favourite US president. I suspect she sent every American president home thinking that. She entertained or was entertained by 13 US presidents dating back to President Truman. She never met FDR, but she did meet Eleanor Roosevelt. It is generally assumed that she never met Lyndon Johnson. In fact, she did but only when he was in the Senate. We are lucky in Britain to have a head of state who is above politics, executive power resting with the elected prime minister, so the monarch’s job is essentially diplomatic. American presidents may be the most powerful leaders of the Western world, but they cannot put on a show such as will be presented to President Trump on Wednesday. All the stops will be pulled out by way of state ceremonial, something at which Britain excels.

Security issues prevent American presidents from having a carriage procession through the streets of Windsor, even in a closed carriage, but the Royal Family are staging a procession for Trump which will not be seen by the general public except on television. Huge barriers are already being erected in the Long Walk.

The late Queen observed her mother at work on Eleanor Roosevelt during the Second World War. The Queen Mother (as she later became) invited Roosevelt to visit Britain in 1942. She showed her personally to her rooms in a boarded-up Buckingham Palace. There was one small fire, the bath was marked to permit no more than five inches of water, the windows were largely covered in wood, and there were heavy curtains to be drawn at night. The Queen Mother showed her the bomb damage to some of their private rooms. Later the King and Queen took her on a tour of war-damaged London showing her St Paul’s Cathedral with its nave open to the sky, and the ravaged East End. What better way to get the message direct to the president about how much Britain needed America’s help, and that help came.

Elizabeth II visited President Dwight D. Eisenhower in October 1957, in the year following the Suez Crisis when Anglo-American relations were poor. She stayed for four days at the White House and addressed the United Nations in New York. Sir Harold Caccia, the British Ambassador, reported that the American public ‘from the highest to the lowest were spellbound’. His conclusion was that the visit had successfully closed the book on Suez. The Queen herself was surprised by how much the Americans needed the feeling that they were liked. Eisenhower told her he thought his country was disliked around the world. The Queen wrote to Anthony Eden to say that, having witnessed how difficult it was to run the American state, the life of a President was ‘quite impossible for a hale and hearty man, let alone an ill man. Ike leads a terrible life…’

Woodrow Wilson had visited George V in December 1918. Only three American presidents have had state visits here – George W. Bush in 2003, Barack Obama in 2011, and Trump in 2019. The Queen invited the Reagans to stay at Windsor Castle in June 1982, ostensibly to rest before summit meetings in France and Germany. She knew he liked a shower and had one installed specially for him in his suite in the Lancaster Tower. The president especially enjoyed his eight-mile ride through Windsor Great Park, though the Queen was not keen on him chatting to 150 journalists and quickly steered him away. Reagan was accorded the unique honour for a US President to be invited to address both Houses of Parliament in Westminster Hall. The British put on a great show. At the State Banquet the royal party processed in, led by the Lord Steward walking backwards. Reagan was worried but the Queen reassured him that the Lord Steward was well used to it. In her speech, she thanked the president for American support in the recent Falklands War. Reagan was suitably impressed by the hospitality. ‘A fairy tale experience,’ he noted.

Another memorable visit was a private visit for lunch at Windsor Castle by President Obama and the First Lady in April 2012. The couple arrived in the Home Park by helicopter. The American Secret Service were dumbfounded when Prince Philip, then aged 95, took the wheel of the Range Rover, but they were unable to do anything about it. All was well.

Keir Starmer realised the value of a state visit by President Trump, which is why he delivered him a letter of invitation from the King in the White House, with television cameras watching. Trump accepted with alacrity. He will relish the pageantry with which he is greeted. On the last day he will go to Chequers, where the political issues can be discussed. It promises to be a fascinating few days.