Windsor state banquet for Trump features menu nods to Scottish heritage
Royal menu includes watercress panna cotta, Norfolk chicken, vanilla ice cream bombe, and drinks tied to the president's roots as Windsor hosts the U.S. president.
LONDON — The Windsor Castle state banquet for President Donald Trump featured a menu designed to honor the guest while showcasing royal hospitality, with subtle nods to the president's Scottish heritage in the drink list. King Charles III and Queen Camilla hosted the event, and the Princess of Wales toasted the U.S. president during the reception.
Meal planning emphasized local and seasonally available ingredients. The first course was watercress panna cotta and quail egg salad on Parmesan shortbread. It was followed by a second course of free-range Norfolk chicken ballotins in zucchini coats, accompanied by Spanish beans, spiced pumpkin with toasted seeds, buttered chard, and fondant potatoes. The careful choreography and kitchen prep reflected the intensity of preparations for a state visit.
Trump, long known for his fondness for ice cream, was served a vanilla ice cream bomb with Kentish raspberry sorbet and lightly poached Victoria plums. After-dinner drinks included a vintage 1945 port — among the closest port vintages the palace keeps to the president’s birth year — a 1912 cognac (the year of Trump’s mother’s birth in Scotland), and Bowmore Queen’s Cask 1980 single-malt Scotch whiskey. Officials noted the president would largely drink soft beverages during the dinner.
The banquet is part of a broader state visit and is intended to reflect both royal protocol and the warmth of U.K.-U.S. ties. The menu’s local ingredients and age-specific spirits were chosen to balance ceremony with guests’ backgrounds, illustrating how diplomacy unfolds at the table as leaders share conversation and ceremony.
Observers described the dinner as a diplomatic high point, noting the blend of pageantry and practical detail that characterizes modern state hospitality. The royal hosts used the occasion to reaffirm ties with the United States while highlighting the royal family's ceremonial role in foreign relations.
At Windsor, the menu and the event underscored how royal diplomacy operates in plain sight, combining tradition, local cuisine, and symbolic touches to mark a meeting between two longtime allies.