Leon Neal/Getty Images(LONDON) — The Queen of England will unfurl the red carpet and open the gates to Buckingham Palace to welcome President Donald Trump for an honorary state visit to the United Kingdom on Monday.

Trump has marveled at some of the previous elaborate welcomes he’s received during his travels abroad over the last two and half years, but his three-day state visit to the United Kingdom has been designed with the explicit intent of dazzling the visiting U.S president.

The state visit invitation was first extended to the 45th president just after he assumed the presidency in 2017 but is only now coming to fruition more than two years later. He previously visited the U.K. last year, taking tea with the queen at Windsor Castle at the time, but that was during a less ceremonial working visit.

Trump is only the third U.S. president to be honored with a state visit hosted by the queen. President George W. Bush had such a visit in 2003, as did President Barack Obama in 2011.

Day 1

On Monday morning, Trump and the first lady touched down in London and will be received by the queen, Prince Charles and Charles’ wife, Camilla, later that day with an elaborate welcome at Buckingham Palace.

Trump will join Prince Charles for a formal inspection of the Guard of Honor in the palace garden before heading inside for a private lunch hosted by the queen in the president’s honor. Prince Harry will also attend the lunch, according to Buckingham Palace.

But while the president is expected to meet Prince Harry, he is not expected to meet his wife, Meghan. The Duchess of Sussex is not expected to attend any of the state visit events, according to the Palace, because she remains on maternity leave from her official duties as a member of the royal family following the recent birth of her son Archie.

Meghan’s excusable absence from the state visit ceremonies avoids the potential for an awkward encounter, given that both Trump and Meghan have been publicly critical of one another.

Prior to marrying into the royal family, Markle called Trump a “misogynist” during the 2016 campaign and suggested she’d be inclined to live in Canada if he were elected president. Trump recently responded to her past criticism, saying “I didn’t know that she was nasty” in an interview with the British outlet The Sun.

In addition to lunch at the palace, the queen is expected to show the first couple an exhibition of items in the Royal collection that are of historical significance to the United States. Prince Andrew will then act as tour guide for the president and first lady for a visit to Westminster Abbey. There, the president will lay a wreath at the Grave of the Unknown Warrior.

Later that afternoon, the president and first lady will be received for tea by Prince Charles and Camilla at their official residence at Clarence House. The private welcome at the prince’s home is seen as a particularly significant moment in the trip, given that the prince is next in line to the thrown behind his 93-year old mother.

To cap off the day, the palace will pull out its finest china for a lavish state banquet at Buckingham palace in the president and first lady’s honor.

“It’s huge preparations,” says Royal commentator Robert Jobson, “making sure that absolutely everything is tip-top, from the champagne that is used to even little details, what exactly each guest requires … to make sure it’s the perfect evening.”

The queen herself will play a directing role in making sure the night is executed to the highest possible standards.

“The queen, before the day of the banquet, will be going around and making sure that everything is the way she wants it, that’s the way they’ll be operation, and it will be a perfect example of British hospitality,” Jobson said.

Prince William and Kate, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, will attend the dinner, according to the Palace, and will meet the president at that time.

The president’s children and their spouses, who are joining the president on the state visit, are also expected to attend the formal dinner, according to a White House official.

Both the president and the queen are expected to make remarks over the course of the evening.

The president and first lady will then return to Winfield House, the official U.S. ambassador’s residence, where they will be staying during their two-night stay in London. While the president and first lady might otherwise be expected to stay at Buckingham Palace, the official chief residence of the Royal Family is currently undergoing extensive renovations.

Day 2

The second day of the state visit will be filled with more official business than ceremony, as the president heads to 10 Downing Street to be received by outgoing Prime Minister Theresa May.

The president’s visit comes at a particularly awkward moment for May, who announced her resignation last Friday and is set to officially step down as the Conservative Party leader on June 7, just a few days after the president’s visit.

The day will begin with business. Trump will attend a business breakfast meeting at St. James’ Palace co-hosted by May that will bring together major U.S. and UK business leaders.

The persistent uncertainty around Brexit will no doubt be a topic of discussion at the breakfast. While the president has expressed his hopes for negotiating a bilateral trade agreement with the U.K., the president’s national security adviser, John Bolton, said the U.S. is waiting for the U.K.’s planned exit from the European Union to occur first.

After breakfast, the president heads to the prime minister’s official residence at 10 Downing Street for meetings and could potentially hold a joint news conference.

In the evening, the president and first lady will reciprocate the hospitality of their British hosts with a dinner hosted at Winfield House. Prince Charles and Camilla will attend the dinner in the Queen’s place, according to the Palace.

Day 3

On his third and final day in the U.K., the president will join the queen and over 300 D-Day veterans in Portsmouth for a national ceremony of remembrance on the 75th anniversary of the allied military invasion that is remembered as a turning point of World War II.

The queen will then formally bid the president farewell from Portsmouth as he continues on with his itinerary, which will take him to Ireland and France.

In France, the president will attend the ceremonies marking the 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasion on the shores of Normandy. And in Ireland, the president will have an official meeting with Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and pay a visit to one of his eponymous properties.

Copyright © 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.