Queen Camilla has taken First Lady Melania Trump on a tour of Windsor Castle’s royal library and to see the Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House during the final morning of Donald Trump’s state visit.
The two accompanied one another as they walked through bookcases filled with leather-bound volumes, before inspecting some of the miniatures made especially for the world’s largest dollhouse.
At the same time, the US president travelled to Chequers, the prime minister’s grace-and-favour residence in Buckinghamshire, for diplomatic talks.
Mrs Trump later joined the Princess of Wales to host a group of scouts in the gardens of Frogmore House, offering them sandwiches made with honey from her Norfolk residence.
The 20 Squirrel Scouts had been taking part in nature activities on the Windsor Castle estate to earn their Go Wild badges.
They were joined by Chief Scout Dwayne Fields, who said of Catherine, the association’s president: “It’s a great thing to have her shine a light on the movement.”
During their perusal of Windsor Castle’s attractions, the Queen and the first lady shared a smile and a chuckle as they inspected some of the tiny books, including The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson and A Recipe Fit for a Queen by the Queen’s son, Tom Parker Bowles.
Many of the books – such as Dame Jacqueline Wilson’s The House Mouse and Music for a Dolls’ House – were made for the 100th anniversary of Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House.
The Queen, an avid advocate of children’s literature, also showed some of Windsor’s full-size books and historical prints.
While the two toured the royal library, schoolchildren created their own minitature books with colouring pencils.
Designed by British architect Sir Edwin Lutyens in the 1920s, the Queen Mary Doll’s House is perhaps the most famous of its kind in the world, boasting a fully stocked wine cellar, working lifts, electricity and even running water.
The scale replica of an Edwardian residence was built for King George V’s consort as a gift from the nation after World War One.
At the time, it took more than 1,500 leading artists and craftspeople, including Faberge and Cartier, who worked for three years to complete the project.
Other miniature marvels inside the structure include a tiny grand piano, the Crown Jewels and a 1920s-era vacuum cleaner.
Since 1925, it has sat in Windsor Castle, in a room Sir Edwin also designed, attracting around half a million visitors each year.
After spending time with the Princess of Wales, the first lady will join her husband at Chequers, from where they will both return to Air Force One for their departure back to the US.
The events cap off a two-day state visit that has included expansive displays of pageantry and a lavish banquet in which King Charles and Trump both remarked on the close relationship between the UK and US.
The US president’s unprecedented second state visit was accompanied by the announcement of US technology firm investments in the UK potentially worth up to £150bn.
Trump’s visit to Chequers will conclude with a news conference, in which topics – including state recognition for Palestine and the sacking of the UK’s ambassador to the US over his relationship with the late convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein – are likely to be raised.
