During the state dinner,both Charles and Trump spoke about the gifts (Picture: EPA)
The King and Queen have exchanged gifts with Donald Trump and the First Lady,with the royal couple giving the US President a bell from a historic submarine.
Trump officially welcomed Charles and Camilla with an unprecedented military ceremony on the lawns of the White House on Tuesday.
King Charles paid tribute to America’s ‘special relationship’ with the UK by giving him the bell from the HMS Trump,a WWII submarine which served in the Pacific.
‘I’m delighted to present to you the original bell which hung on the conning tower of your valiant namesake. May it stand as a testimony to our nation’s shared history and shining future,’ the King said.
‘Should you ever need to get hold of us,just give us a ring,’ he added,as the crowd laughed.
The historic bell was gifted to the President (Picture: WireImage)The HMS Trump,which served as a Royal Navy submarine in World War II in the Pacific,was built in Barrow-in-Furness.Though King Charles said in his speech that the submarine was named after the President’s ‘valiant namesake’,it was actually named after no one in particular.In the 1940s,most Royal Navy vessels were named with short ‘T’ names,including HMS Tiptoe,Truncheon and more.
The King and Trump exchanged various gifts (Picture: AP)Charles gifted the president a framed replica of the 1879 design plans for the Resolute Desk,which sits in the Oval Office and was made from the timbers of the British exploration ship HMS Resolute.The ship was refitted and recovered by the US government before being sent back to England and presented to Queen Victoria in December 1856 as a gesture of goodwill and friendship between the two countries.After serving in the Royal Navy until 1879,the ship’s timbers were used to make three desks in Kent,England. Queen Victoria then presented the finished Resolute Desk to then-US President Rutherford B Hayes in 1880.The original plans for the desk are held by the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich,London.To the King,Trump gifted a custom replica of a letter written from former US President John Adams to fellow founding father John Jay in 1785.In the letter,Adams describes King George III receiving him as the first US ambassador to Great Britain at St James Palace in London.Mr Adams wrote about the emotions of the encounter as the pair met face to face,and that the King had said,although he was the ‘last to consent to the separation’,he would be first to meet US friendship.The Queen gifted Melania Trump a brooch by British designer Fiona Rae,while the first lady gave Charles six Tiffany’s English King sterling silver teaspoons and some White House honey.The teaspoons are each engraved with Camilla’s cypher and are Tiffany’s interpretation of the King designs that were popular in England and America in the late 19th century.Meanwhile,the honey is a nod to the Queen’s interest in beekeeping and the pair’s shared appreciation of sustainability,nature and craftsmanship.Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at .
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