One’s a brash New York property tycoon turned U.S. president, the other’s the King whose family has been on the British throne for centuries. As the two men meet for Trump’s state visit, we look at how each of the men compare.
Britain has officially laid out the red carpet for Donald Trump with King Charles hosting the US President at Windsor Castle.
On the face of it the two men couldn’t be more different. But just how does the brash New York property tycoon turned U.S. president measure up against a king steeped in hundreds of years of tradition and pomp?
King Charles
Net Worth
The King’s finances are in good shape. This year’s Sunday Times Rich List found the Monarch’s personal fortune to be £640m – a £30m increase on the previous year. The estimate is based on his personal assets and includes investments and private property, estates, horses, cars and jewellery.
That still doesn’t get him into the top 100 richest people in the country, though – the King ranks joint 238th out of a list of 350 according to the annually published list, topped by the Hinduja family which runs the multinational conglomerate Hinduja Group.
Income
The King gets his income from three main sources. The Sovereign Grant is the public funding stream used for official duties and the upkeep of royal residences. The amount is based on the percentage of profits from the Crown Estate, a property portfolio owned by the Crown – The King is scheduled to draw £132m from this next year.
Meanwhile the Duchy of Lancaster is a private estate that generates income for the monarch’s private use. He also enjoys private wealth thanks to investments and inherited assets such as estates at Balmoral and Sandringham.
Politics
Details of the King’s political views are hard to come by – the Monarch is supposed to remain neutral – but there have been hints about his stance both during his years as Prince of Wales and more recently.
He has often spoken out about environmental threats and global warming, taking a keen interest in organic farming practices and green issues. More recently he ensured hundreds of community local heroes were invited to his coronation and has visited food bank charities.
And of course there was his famous ‘dear, oh dear’ remark to Liz Truss when she came to see him at the end of her disastrous premiership. Was that genuine regret? Or a tongue in cheek remark?
Green and Climate Issues
King Charles has a long history of being an environment advocate, championing green issues, nature and sustainability – and talking to the occasional plant along the way.
When he first championed his views he was seen as eccentric – he was just 21 when he gave a speech warning about plastic and chemical pollution – but is now firmly recognised as a powerful advocate for everything from climate change to organic farming – he’s fitting solar panels at Windsor Castle.
Parents and background
Charles’ royal family tree is a who’s who for anyone studying GCSE history – his heritage can be reliably traced back through more than a thousand years of British monarchs.
The man who was born to be king arrived in 1948, the first child of Queen Elizabeth 11, the great-great granddaughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Philip, a Greek prince. He has three siblings, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward.
Educated privately at Gordonstoun in Scotland – which he famously hated – he completed a degree in history at Cambridge and went on to serve in the RAF and Royal Navy from 1971 to 1976.
Family and private life
The King has had his share of personal ups and downs, from a high profile marriage to and then very public divorce from Diana, Princess of Wales and subsequent remarriage to Queen Camilla.
His close relatives are rarely out of the news, too, whether it’s his want away son Harry dishing the family dirt from the US or scrutiny on his brother, Prince Andrew, thanks to his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
But he seems to dote on his three grandchildren by son William and has settled into a long and apparently happy marriage with Camilla who, by all accounts, knows how to jolly him out of his sometimes grumpy moods.
Hobbies
In his younger days the King enjoyed a bit of an ‘action man’ reputation, skiing, fishing and playing polo. Even today he enjoys the outdoors, particularly hiking in Scotland.
A talented watercolour painter, he loves traditional rural crafts – word is he is a dab hand at hedge laying.
Charities take up a lot of his time but in his downtime Charles is a music fan. To mark Commonwealth Day this year he released a personal playlist which spanned disco to opera and included Crazy in Love by Beyonce and The Loco-Motion by Kylie Minogue.
Tastes
The King has followed a largely organic diet for more than 40 years, launching his own organic range, Duchy Originals, in 1990. To mark his 70th birthday he guest edited Country Life magazine and revealed pheasant crumble pie to be his favourite meal.
Other than that he’s a big fan of a perfectly cooked boiled egg and favours a good cuppa – it has to be Darjeeling though.
President Trump
Net Worth
Donald Trump ranks as one of the richest people in the world although definitive figures are not publicly known.
Financial experts at global business and investment company Forbes have assessed his wealth at around $5.1 billion although others at Bloomberg put the figure nearer to $7.08 billion.
Either way, he is the richest-ever US president, and the only billionaire to live in the White House.
Income
The vast majority of Trump’s worth comes from Trump Media & Technology Group Corp – the parent company of his social network, Truth Social. Financial data and analytics experts Bloomberg reports that Trump has a $2.1 billion stake in the media company.
The second biggest chunk comes from his vast real estate with a portfolio which spans residential buildings, hotels, clubs and golf resorts – Trump Tower alone is said to be worth $200m.
The President also inherited wealth from his father, real estate developer Fred, who set up a series of trust funds for his son. An investigation by The New York Times found 295 distinct streams of revenue created by Trump senior in order to channel his wealth to his son
Politics
Trump is a Republican and uses bold rhetoric and combative language and policies to disrupt the norm. His political stance is centred on nationalism with an oft-quoted ‘America First’ or Make America Great Again agenda.
His policies emphasise strict immigration control – hence his plan to build a wall on the US/Mexico border – while economically he has pursued tax cuts and tariffs to protect U.S. industries, while championing energy independence through fossil fuels.
Military strength is key for him.
Green and Climate Issues
It’s fair to see the President is not known for his green credentials. He withdrew the US from the Paris Agreement – an international treaty to limit global warming – and has abandoned domestic climate change policies even though the US is the second largest emitter of greenhouse gases.
He has called climate change “mythical” although did sign an Executive Order establishing the One Trillion Trees Interagency Council to promote healthy forests across the US.
Parents and background
Donald Trump was born into a wealthy New York family, one of five children, in 1946. His father Fred was a real-estate developer and businessman and Mary Ane MacLeod, a socialite – you’ll often see photos of both behind their son in the White House.
The future president graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in economics, went to work for the family firm and began acquiring and building skyscrapers, hotels, casinos, and golf courses. He was exempted from the draft during the Vietnam War due to a problem with his feet.
He hosted the reality television show The Apprentice, briefly considering a career in show business before entering business and then politics.
Hobbies
It’s golf, golf and more golf for the Don who is thought to own around 15 courses – 11 in the US, two in Scotland, one in Ireland and one in the UAE.
He loves social media almost as much – establishing his own platform, Truth Social, to which he posts multiple times a day.
And he apparently still finds time to see his ten grandchildren – White House officials report him slipping them sweets when nobody’s looking.
Tastes
Fast food is Donald Trump’s go to when it comes to diet. He has been photographed aboard his private jet enjoying a bucket of KFC while social media posts have shown him devouring McDonald’s burgers and fries.
He’s partial to a steak – no veggies though – and his tipple of choice is a cold can of Coke.
Family and private life
Trump has been married three times and divorced twice, the only US president with that marital history.
His first marriage in 1977 was to Ivana Zelnickova and the couple had three children: Donald, Jr, Ivanka and Eric. They divorced in 1990 and he married American actor Marla Maples in 1993, two months after their daughter Tiffany was born. They divorced in 1999 and he then made Slovenian model Melania Knauss his third wife in January 2005. They share a son, Barron.
Trump himself has been the subject of multiple allegations of sexual misconduct going back decades and all of which he denies. The fall-out from his friendship with Jeffery Epstein continues.
