President Trump landed in London Monday for a state visit, Stephen Colbert said on Monday's Late Show, and it hasn't gone all that smoothly. He imagined Trump's inappropriate interactions with Prince Charles during an afternoon tea, dragging in Moby and Natalie Portman; annotated Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump "haunting" Buckingham Palace; and raised his eyebrows at Britain's odd excuse for why Trump isn't invited to stay in Buckingham Palace like past presidents.
Colbert recapped the one-sided "international catfight" Trump picked with Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, noting that "it's not exactly etiquette to call a member of the royal family 'nasty,'" though his own joke about Queen Elizabeth's gift for Trump, a first-edition copy of Sir Winston Churchill's book on World War II, maybe went a little too far.
"That's right, the queen's gift for Donald Trump was a book," Trevor Noah said at The Daily Show. "Either she doesn't know Trump, or she's trolling him. Why would you give Donald Trump a book? Everyone knows the man doesn't read." In fact, "I wouldn't be shocked if the queen was actually trolling Donald Trump," he said, given his "nasty" Markle comment, insults for London Mayor Sadiq Khan, and meddling in the Brexit debate and leadership contest — though he found Trump's love of potential prime minister Boris Johnson unsurprising. "I've never seen two people who both look like failed clones of each other."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
All this probably "explains why the British haven't exactly rolled out the red carpet," Noah said, highlighting the lack of invitation to state at the palace. "Really? Really?! All 52 bedrooms in Buckingham Palace are being renovated at the same time? All of them? Come on, man!"
Conan O'Brien added some dialogue from Queen Elizabeth showing Trump royal grounds, and yes, there is a book joke.
The Late Show also imagined Trump's special menu for the state banquet. Watch below. Peter Weber
-
Jeffrey Epstein's secretsFeature Six years after his death, conspiracy theories still swirl around the sex trafficker. Why?
-
Voting: Trump's ominous war on mail ballotsFeature Donald Trump wants to sign an executive order banning mail-in ballots for the 2026 midterms
-
School phone bans: Why they're spreadingFeature 17 states are imposing all-day phone bans in schools
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclubSpeed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's illsSpeed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, StalloneSpeed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's viewSpeed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
-
Charlamagne Tha God irks Trump with Epstein talkSpeed Read The radio host said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal could help 'traditional conservatives' take back the Republican Party
-
CBS cancels Colbert's 'Late Show'Speed Read 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is ending next year
-
A long weekend in ZürichThe Week Recommends The vibrant Swiss city is far more than just a banking hub
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposesspeed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle
