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King Charles III was not in the Oval Office on Thursday afternoon. But his regal presence loomed over the meeting<\/a> between President Trump and Prime Minister Keir Starmer, which felt at times less like a big-power showdown over Ukraine than a courtesy call between two Renaissance royal courts.<\/p>\n From the moment Mr. Starmer pulled an embossed letter from his breast pocket and handed it to Mr. Trump, with an invitation from the king for the president to make a state visit to Britain, the much-anticipated encounter between these two leaders relaxed into something friendlier, but also somehow less momentous.<\/p>\n \u201cA beautiful man, a wonderful man,\u201d Mr. Trump said, after poring over the two-page letter, which was signed \u201cCharles R\u201d in a bold, oversized hand not unlike that used by the president to sign dozens of executive orders.<\/p>\n It fell to Mr. Starmer to explain the diplomatic novelty represented by the invitation: Mr. Trump is the first elected leader in the modern era to be honored with two state visits to Britain. \u201cThis is really special,\u201d Mr. Starmer told the assembled press corps. \u201cThis has never happened before.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The prime minister might have added: Never has an elected British leader deployed the monarchy so transparently to win the favor of another head of state.<\/p>\n Mr. Starmer is well aware of Mr. Trump\u2019s enchantment with the royal family<\/a>. The president viewed his last state visit in 2019<\/a>, during which Queen Elizabeth II threw him a lavish banquet at Buckingham Palace, as a highlight of his first term. Mr. Trump has lately taken to referring to himself in royal terms: \u201cLONG LIVE THE KING!\u201d he posted on social media<\/a>, after moving to kill New York City\u2019s congestion pricing program.<\/p>\n With Mr. Trump on the brink of an epochal split<\/a> with Britain and the rest of Europe over how to deal with Russia\u2019s war on Ukraine, Mr. Starmer apparently calculated that a little royal stardust might bridge the gap \u2014 or at least paper it over.<\/p>\n On some counts, he seemed to have succeeded.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Mr. Trump gave Mr. Starmer little comfort on his biggest ask: that the United States provide a security \u201cbackstop\u201d<\/a> for British and European troops that could keep the peace after a potential Trump-brokered settlement between Ukraine and Russia. But he won Mr. Trump\u2019s endorsement of a deal relinquishing British sovereignty over a string of strategically important islands in the Indian Ocean. And he got a welcome sign that Britain might wriggle out of American tariffs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Back home, Mr. Starmer won praise, even from the normally antagonistic right-wing press. \u201cWhat an Unlikely Bromance!\u201d The Daily Mail said. \u201cSpecial Delivery,\u201d said The Sun, over a photo of a tickled Mr. Trump showing off the invitation from Charles. \u201cKeir\u2019s Trump Card,\u201d said the more reliably friendly Daily Mirror.<\/p>\n Given all the ways that the meeting could have gone wrong, Mr. Starmer returned to London with a tidy political victory. Mr. Trump\u2019s apparent approval of his deal to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius<\/a> in return for the right to keep operating a British American military base on Diego Garcia, will deprive the opposition Conservative Party, as well as the right-wing disrupter Nigel Farage, of a major talking point against Mr. Starmer\u2019s Labour government.<\/p>\n Mr. Starmer also got credit from Mr. Trump for arguing his case on why Britain should be spared the tariffs that Mr. Trump appears ready to impose on the European Union. The president said he expected Britain and the United States to strike a trade deal that would make tariffs unnecessary.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was working hard, I\u2019ll tell you that,\u201d Mr. Trump said, after Mr. Starmer lobbied him over a lunch of salad, grilled sea bass and chocolate caramel cake. \u201cHe earned whatever the hell they pay him over there.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Still, on the most critical item on Mr. Starmer\u2019s agenda, the prime minister made little headway. Mr. Trump brushed aside questions about whether the United States would provide a security guarantee to Ukraine to prevent President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia from launching another invasion. Mr. Trump insisted Mr. Putin would \u201ckeep his word\u201d if a peace deal was reached.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The presence of American workers in Ukraine, Mr. Trump added, presumably there to help extract the rare-earth minerals that President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine has agreed to share with the United States, would be an insurance policy to prevent Russia from attacking Ukraine again.<\/p>\n Asked if he would come to the aid of British troops if they were targeted by Russia in Ukraine, Mr. Trump equivocated. \u201cI\u2019ve always found about the British, they don\u2019t need much help,\u201d he said. \u201cThey can take care of themselves very well.\u201d Then he added, \u201cIf they need help, I\u2019ll always be with the British, OK?\u201d<\/p>\n That fell short of Mr. Starmer\u2019s hope for an ironclad American security guarantee. But like President Emmanuel Macron of France, who met Mr. Trump on Monday<\/a>, Mr. Starmer was determined to avoid a public split with the president over the issue. He lavished praise on Mr. Trump for his peacemaking efforts, adding only that it \u201ccan\u2019t be peace that rewards the aggressor or that gives encouragement to regimes like Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n