Courting Trump: Anglo-American Relations and the House of Windsor

This article argues that British handling of the Trump administrations has evidenced the under-recognised value of Britain’s monarchy in promoting the Anglo-American special relationship. Traditional British approaches of seeking close leadership relations and public American endorsement of special relations have delivered mixed results and carried abnormally high political risks. The House of Windsor has consequently been enlisted to the cause with unusual intensity. This owes to three key reasons. First, Trump’s ego and admiration for the monarchy enhance the latter’s ability to provide an additional means of building diplomatic bridges and promoting a public narrative of special Anglo-American relations with the President and his administrations. Second, British royalty help reinforce Anglo-American cultural connection, popular American fascination with the House of Windsor enabling it to emphasise traditionally shared values to, and raise Britain’s profile with, domestic US audiences. Finally, British royalty complements assiduous government cultivating of Trump and his administrations but also lessens political risk in close government association with a President deeply unpopular in large swathes of Britain.