Prince Harry appears to avoid Donald Trump during Buckingham Palace tour after he branded Meghan Markle ‘nasty’
PRINCE Harry appeared to avoid Donald Trump yesterday — after the President had said Meghan was “nasty” about him.
The Queen rolled out the red carpet at Buckingham Palace for the start of Trump’s three-day state visit.
But a grumpy looking Harry, 34, kept as far away as possible.
Meghan had backed Trump’s Democrat rival Hilary Clinton during the 2016 election, and said she would move to Canada if he won.
In an exclusive interview with the Sun before his visit, President Trump learned of the comments and said he didn’t know “she was nasty” — but that she would be a “very good” princess.
He and wife Melania landed at Stansted Airport, Essex, at 8.56am following an overnight flight on Air Force One from Washington DC.
They later boarded their Marine One helicopter and were flown to central London — landing on the Palace lawn at 12.12pm.
Harry attended the private lunch with Donald and First Lady Melania, but on a tour of Her Majesty’s private art collection hung back and did not want to be photographed with any of the party.
He walked in with the President’s daughter Ivanka but left her to talk to the Lord Chamberlain while the Queen showed the Trumps around with Prince Charles close behind.
‘BAD MANNERS’
An onlooker said: “Harry was the third most senior royal in the room after the Queen and his father, but didn’t seem to take any part in his royal duties.”
Royal commentator Ingrid Seward said: “Harry did look grumpy and as if he didn’t want to be there.
“He appears to be behaving in a rather immature way and letting his personal animosity take over from his natural good manners.
“Whatever his personal feelings, it’s his duty to support the Queen regardless and take a tip from his grandmother who has never allowed her personal feelings to interfere with her duty.
“It’s bad manners and rude.”
New mum Meghan, 37, managed to avoid the awkward encounter, as she is on maternity leave with four-week-old son Archie.
As soon as Harry’s official duties were over, he dashed off to his exclusive Chelsea gym KX, where he spent 90 minutes working out.
He did not take part in the official state banquet at the Palace — attended by Charles, Camilla, William and Kate.
Harry was a late addition to the list of royals for the state visit, prompting speculation that pressure was applied for him to be there — or his team thought it would look bad if he skipped the entire visit.
Mr Trump grinned as he greeted the Queen, who presented him with special gifts.
They included a first edition of Sir Winston Churchill’s book The Second World War and a three-piece pen set decorated with an EIIR emblem.
Melania got a silver box decorated in royal blue with roses, thistles and shamrocks to represent the ceiling of the Palace’s music room.
'Rid of the shackles'
WHILE on his state visit, Mr Trump sent out tweets that seemed to suggest that Britain will soon be better off free of the EU.
In one, he pledged that a “big trade deal is possible once UK gets rid of the shackles”.
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