HA! King Charles shows his true colors!

Think king charles ought to get another medal for this. Blimey, he's got more medals than Dick Dastardly's Mutley.

It takes two to make a deal and it hasn’t been signed. It would have been wise for the toddlers to save their tantrum until after Zelenskyy had signed on the dotted line. I strongly suspect he won’t now.

The King will certainly have done his duty as required by the constitution (as it is understood). I am sure he did more than utter the right phrases, he will have added his own warmth and understanding to support the President and the people of Ukraine.

@Tomatotater Agreed. But the mineral deal was already agreed upon with the US to pay back for US military aid, so Zelensky is not in a position to start a new deal. Russia isn’t even keen on Ukraine joining NATO, so Ukraine isn’t really in a strong position to negotiate.

Apologies I wasn’t suggesting they were secretly dating. I was just pointing out the warmth of the meeting.

Trump and Vance were disgraceful.

@Itisbetter Be that is it may, it’s not that big of a deal. It’s soft diplomacy which is a key role of the royal family. The king has already met Zelensky before. It’s not as though he’s been invited to the state banquet.

I think that what Trump wants to achieve is blame the rest of the world for anything that he wants to do in the US, and pander to his fans/voters. So he can blame Europe for restricting free speech while not allowing independent press into the Whitehouse and remaining silent with regards to Russia and China, can slap tariffs on his allies and blame them for taking American jobs when Americans will be the ones paying for the tariffs, can pretend that the whole world is sucking on the teat of America, when in reality, the US gets a hell of a lot back from the rest of the world in relation to strategic US bases, military cooperation etc. He wants to scapegoat everyone else and his fans will go mad with adoration about how he is putting 'America First'. The US has already lost trust. If everyone stood on their own two feet ( which I think they should) then the US would have no right to a say in the running of Europe. The problem is, will Europe be prepared to do their own minerals deal with Ukraine and tell them to stuff their military bases where the sun don't shine, or get them to pay for them? I doubt it.

Imagine if we’d said that after the invasion of Poland in 1939…

This!☝️

🇺🇦 Zelensky First, Pompous Trump 2nd.

Do you remember how Trump barged in front of The Queen? So rude!

@AzurePanda You seem to know a lot about what Trump is planning to achieve. What is that exactly?

In my experience public school boys/old farts, do very much signal with their choice of tie.

@Itisbetter It seems as though key members of the royal family do tend to do that when visiting a country/place/hosting so I wouldn’t read too much into that.

@upinaballoon be that as it may but if the “coalition of the willing” takes hold then Trump will have achieved exactly what he set out to achieve.

showing his true colors with colours spelt the American way.

Yes he is showing the UK stands with Ukraine. And??

Hmmmm is that a pale blue and yellow tie KC is sporting?

I don't think he spends much time on his organic biscuits. He's the Head of State and meets with the PM weekly and sees dispatch boxes daily. He acts for the UK government. If they request he meets a politician or statesman, that's what he does.

Zelensky didn't spend long at Sandringham, The BBC text said he had tea there. I know HLMQE2 liked cake but I hope they offered Zelensky some nice beef sandwiches and trifle.

Another post I wish I could like more than once @upinaballoon.

I don't think it was an FU to Trump's words that Europe ought to pull its weight more.
I do think it was a quiet FU to Trump and Vance for their unpleasant personal behaviour to Zelensky on Friday. Scornful words and lost patience may well happen often in the negotiations that we never see or hear but those nasty two were just polishing their egos in public, and enjoying themselves doing it. It's easy to kick a man when he's down. Jew-haters did it in the streets of Germany in the 1930s.

Bollocks.

This. Some people are very ill informed about the role of the monarch. We see it so often on these threads.

@Never2many Wait, has Zelensky done a U turn?

Edited: Just had a quick google, but it turns out that Zelensky was ready to sign the minerals deal but then left without signing.

@AzurePanda Trump has also encouraged an insurrection when he felt the votes were “rigged” and now is apparently pardoning the Jan 6 rioters. He has abused his powers time and time again and has personally fired special counsel prosecutors who worked on the criminal cases against him. He’s removed members of the media who have asked him poignant questions and has instead kept those who are happy to toe the line and are happy to keep the status quo. He’s allowed Musk, who has publicly given a nazi salute, to give his speech in the Oval Office in which fElon’s son comically told the Donald to shush his mouth. So yes, I agree, European countries should be spending more on defense, rely less on the US thereby effectively diminishing his importance on the global stage so he will have less of a say on things.

This whole thing is a load of crap.

Starmer went over and sucked up to Trum, gave him the invite from the palace, made a point of saying that this was a one off as no president had ever had two invites.

Then there was the whole WH debacle with Zelensky, he stormed out, came to Europe, lots of hugging and embracing and oh so much support for Ukraine and meeting the king.

And now Zelensky is saying that he’s prepared to sign away the minerals etc to the US.

From the outside it all looks like we’re showing overwhelming support.

On the inside these people are all in league, including Trump and Zelensky, and all of this is an act put on for the plebs.

Europe including the UK has pledged support for Ukraine including troops on the ground and pilots in the air. BUT only with the backing of the USA.