U.S. President Donald Trump was greeted with a royal family welcome and protests after he arrived in London on Monday for a three-day state visit.

Protesters were out in force across the capital, mainly outside Buckingham Palace and the heavily fortified U.S. Ambassador’s official residence in Regent’s Park.

Trump’s first-day visit ended with a formal and lavish state banquet in the splendor of Queen Elizabeth’s main London home.

The president posted a message on his social media site, saying that the relationship with the United Kingdom is very strong.

“Big Trade Deal is possible once U.K. gets rid of the shackles,” he said, referring to a post-Brexit U.S.-U.K. trade agreement.

Hosted by the queen, the banquet was attended by Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall, Prince William and his wife, Duchess of Cambridge, as well as 11 other Royals, along with prominent Americans living in Britain.

The queen, in a speech, said state visits served as a reminder of the close and lasting relationship between Britain and the U.S.

Moving from pageantry to policy during his state visit to Britain, Trump met with embattled Prime Minister Theresa May yesterday and urged her to “stick around” to complete a U.S.-U.K. trade deal, adding to this recent chapter of uncertainty in the allies’ storied relationship.

The president, whose praise for May comes after spending days touting her possible successors, met with the prime minister and corporate executives from the United States and United Kingdom as part of a day of negotiations ahead of a news conference on Trump’s second day on British soil. The leaders’ top priority is a possible bilateral trade deal to take effect once - or if - the U.K. leaves the European Union.

The British Opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn announced he would be the main speaker at an anti-Trump rally yesterday in Trafalgar Square.

Organizers of the rally predicted 250,000 would be on the streets of London yesterday expressing their opposition to Trump’s state visit.

(Xinhua)