King Willem-Alexander and queen Máxima arrived in Pennsylvania on Sunday for the start of their three-day working visit to the US and are heading heading to Washington on Monday evening for a reception and dinner with US president Donald Trump.

The trip has been hit by controversy because the couple will spent Monday night at the White House as guests of Trump after receiving a personal invitation during the Nato summit in The Hague last summer.

The cabinet has admitted that the timing of the visit is “unfortunate”, given the war in Iran and Trump’s stinging criticism of the US’s Nato allies.

However, insiders say ministers agree that the value of such a visit outweighs the disadvantages, and cancelling the trip was not an option. The aim of the visit, according to the official statement, is to “underline and strengthen the Dutch-US relationship in a number of key areas”.

Prime minister Rob Jetten will join the royals for dinner on Monday and the king will also make a speech.

On Tuesday, the couple will travel to Florida with foreign trade minister Sjoerd Sjoerdsma and infrastructure minister Vincent Karremans.

According to research by the RTL Nieuwspanel, 51% of the Dutch approve of the decision to stay with Trump because they consider good relations between the two countries to be paramount.

But 38% are opposed, saying the Trump administration does not merit support or attention from the Dutch at this time.

“By far the majority of the Dutch are very negative about president Trump, his government and his policies of the past year,” RTL pollster Gijs Rademaker said. “There are, of course, a lot of elephants in the room and sensitive political issues.”