Dutch royals to visit US in April, overnight at the White House

The couple will travel to the US from April 13 to April 15 for a working visit to Philadelphia, Miami and Washington DC. During the Washington leg of the trip, Trump has invited the king and queen for a dinner and overnight stay at the White House.

The invitation follows Trump’s visit to the Netherlands during the Nato summit last year, when he stayed at Huis ten Bosch palace.

“During the Nato summit the president stayed at the palace and afterwards invited the royal couple to dine and stay at the White House when they were next in the US,” the RVD said.

Trump said at the time that he had slept “wonderfully” at the palace and described the residence as beautiful.

Foreign minister Tom Berendsen will accompany the royals during their visit to Pennsylvania, while foreign trade minister Sjoerd Sjoerdsma will join the programme in Florida. Prime minister Rob Jetten will also travel to Washington and will attend the dinner at the White House.

The aim of the visit is to strengthen the economic ties between the Netherlands and Pennsylvania and Florida, the RVD said.

“The visit marks the strong bilateral relationship and historic ties between the Netherlands and the US in the year that the US commemorates 250 years of independence,” the information service said in a press release.

Britain’s king Charles is also due to visit the US at the end of April for the independence commemorations but there have been mounting calls for the trip to be cancelled because of Trump’s outspoken comments about Britain and the war in Iran.