The lavish state banquet being staged for Donald Trump at Windsor

Donald Trump will be wined and dined at a sumptuous white tie state banquet in Windsor Castle on Wednesday evening.

Royal hospitality at its most meticulous and lavish will be deployed in honour of the controversial US president and First Lady Melania Trump as they join some 160 guests in the impressive St George’s Hall for the extravagant feast.

Every element of the banquet is checked and approved by the King, down to the very last detail.

Charles and the Queen usually inspect the table beforehand in person, making their way round the room in the afternoon and examining the preparations with the Master of the Household, Vice-Admiral Sir Tony Johnstone-Burt.

In a tradition started by the King, a bespoke cocktail will be created specially for the occasion, no doubt celebrating the “special relationship” between the UK and the US.

For French President Emmanuel Macron’s state dinner, the alcoholic tipple was named L’entente – in a nod to the L’Entente Cordiale – and it combined British gin with lemon curd and French pastis and was garnished with dried French cornflowers and English roses, while the Japanese state visit was honoured with a yuzu marmalade sour, featuring whisky and marmalade and resembling the flag of Japan.

Mr Trump is a teetotaller so will not indulge in sampling the variety of vintage wines on offer, nor the cocktail unless it is alcohol-free.

Preparations for a state banquet start six months before the big event and it usually takes household staff around three days to lay the table.

Guests – who have been invited on the basis of their cultural, diplomatic or economic links to the US – will dine on an exquisite menu, written in French, prepared by royal chefs and served on historic, priceless dinner sets.

Former US president Barack Obama’s state banquet in 2011 was sprinkled with Hollywood stardust, with a guest list including actor Tom Hanks, actress Helena Bonham Carter and director Tim Burton.

But the dinner for Mr Trump’s last state visit in 2019 was more trade and business rather than showbusiness.

The King and Queen will head members of the royal family, with the Prince of Wales expected to attend, and the Princess of Wales likely, but not yet confirmed, to join him, along with other Windsors.

The monarch will be seated next to Mr Trump in the middle of one side of the table, with Mrs Trump and Camilla opposite them on the other side.

At Mr Macron’s banquet, Kate was seated next to the president at his right hand side, while William was opposite, next to France’s First Lady Brigitte Macron.

Other royals will be spread around the table between the guests.

Much has shifted within the royal family over the last six years amid a change in reign, the occurrence of royal scandal, and the passing of time.

Absent will be the disgraced Duke of York, who attended last time but since then was forced to step down from the working monarchy over his friendship with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.

The attending royals have yet to be announced, but at the last state banquet for Mr Trump, there were 16 family members.

The late Queen Elizabeth II, who hosted the occasion in 2019, died three years ago.

The Duke of Kent is grieving his wife the Duchess of Kent, whose funeral is taking place on Tuesday, and Princess Alexandra is now frail and has not attended banquets for several years.

Missing too will be Lord Peter Mandelson, who was sacked as US ambassador by the Prime Minister just days before the event, after it emerged he sent supportive messages to sex offender Epstein.

Sir Keir Starmer, who is facing a challenging week amid the furore over Lord Mandelson, the fallout of Angela Rayner’s resignation and frustrations from MPs, will be expected to put on his white tie and tails and turn up to join the guests.

But Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey is boycotting the banquet in a protest against Mr Trump’s position on Gaza.

Royal chef Mark Flanagan and his team of 20 chefs will serve seasonal produce, sourced from royal estates.

Charles and Camilla will have selected the final menu, which will be expected to include a nod to the US, from a series of four alternatives.

Seasonal flowers handpicked from the gardens at Windsor Castle and Windsor Great Park will be on show arranged in elaborate displays along the table in silver-gilt centrepieces.

After the banquet, the flowers are usually donated to Floral Angels, a charity of which Camilla is patron, which delivers the blooms to hospices, elderly care homes and shelters.

The impressive St George’s Hall is the largest room in the castle at 55.5 metres long (180ft) and nine metres wide (29.5ft), and the 50 metre (164ft) table stretches its full length.

The castle’s staff will have started constructing the mahogany table almost a week ago.

Tablecloths and napkins – folded in the shape of a Dutch bonnet – cruet sets, elaborate floral decorations, priceless plates, candelabra and six glasses – for water, a champagne toast, red and white wines, a dessert wine and port – will all have carefully been put in order.

Every place setting must be precisely 18 inches apart – with measuring sticks used to ensure absolute precision.

The footmen and women must make sure every chair is exactly the same distance from the table and each glass is the same distance from the front edge of the table.

Some 19 stations are set up around the edge of the room, each manned by four staff – a page, footman, under butler and a wine butler – who use a traffic light system to co-ordinate the serving of courses.

Detailed diagrams are used to illustrate the serving plans and a list of special instructions sets out any dietary requirements and requests for royals and other guests.

Staff must also put in place a special cushion on the King’s seat to ease his long-standing back issues.

Charles also likes a bowl of olive oil, rather than butter pats, at his setting for his bread.

The dress code is tiaras and white tie – or national dress.

Members of the royal family wear sashes and badges known as orders if they have been given them in recognition of royal service.

Speeches take place at the start at around 8.30pm when the King and Mr Trump will both make a speech and propose toasts to one another, followed by the playing of the national anthems.

A string orchestra usually provides the musical backdrop.

The hall’s gothic style ceiling with impressive oak beam roof is studded with the coats of arms of every single Knight of the Garter since the order was founded in 1348.

Its walls and ceiling were decimated in the Windsor Castle fire of 1992 and had to be painstakingly rebuilt.

Just before the banquet begins, members of the royal family will be lined up to be personally introduced to Mr Trump and First Lady Melania.

Then, the King and Queen and the American couple will be formally introduced to and shake hands with each and every guest as they file into the ballroom.

The King and the president will then make their way into the room side by side.

The end of the banquet is signalled by the arrival of 12 pipers processing round the room, a tradition started by Queen Victoria.