Donald Trump meets the Queen at Windsor Castle, far away from protesting London
President Donald Trump and the First Lady Melania Trump met Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle on Friday evening. The meeting occurred nearly a year after Trump postposed his visit to the United Kingdom, fearing country-wide protests against him.
The protests, however, occurred primarily in London, as the US president almost entirely dodged the demonstrations by attending business meetings outside of the capital, an anomaly for a visiting American president.
Reports state that Trump entered Windsor Castle's quadrangle by a Range Rover after arriving on the castle grounds by a helicopter. The American first couple was then greeted by the Queen, who was accompanied by Lt. Col. Sir Andrew Ford, comptroller of Lord Chamberlain's Office.
While the Trumps were meeting with the Queen, hundreds of demonstrators converged in central London on Friday. With varying groups organizing multiple marches, the center of the protests was a giant balloon depicting the US president as an angry, orange baby in a diaper, with a cellphone in one hand which showed Twitter on the screen.
London's Mayor Sadiq Khan had permitted the "Trump baby" blimp to be flown in the city, which President Trump acknowledged had made him feel unwelcome in the British capital. Trump also cited this as the reason he did not spend much time in the capital during his visit to the UK.
Reports state that the Trump baby balloon was flown high over Parliament Square, however, Trump was miles away from the center of the capital, and was attending meetings with Prime Minister Theresa May and later met with Queen Elizabeth II for high tea.
The Queen has met every visiting American president since 1952, with the exception of Lyndon B. Johnson.
The demonstration's organizers have claimed that nearly 100,000 protesters turned up at the venue to protest the American president's visit. The figures are twice as much as were expected. The London's Metropolitan Police, however, have not confirmed the crowd size of the protests.
Reports state that even half the estimated size would be the biggest weekday protest in the streets of the British capital since demonstrations against the Iraq war in 2003.
The protesters had reportedly draped a huge sign over a wall on the stairs up to London's National Gallery of art, which read "BUILD BRIDGES NOT WALLS," taking a dig at Trump's promise to construct a wall along the US-Mexico border to keep immigrants at bay.
One of the protesters, Rania Belarbi, while talking to CBS News, said: "It's nice to see so many people gathered for one cause. We're all gathered for love, for equality, for togetherness, so that's a great message that we're sending out to the world."
Trump and the first lady are scheduled to arrive in Helsinki, Finland next week for a highly anticipated summit with the Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Kremlin on Friday said that it hopes the US-Russia summit may make way for the Trump to visit Moscow and for Putin to make an official visit to Washington.