During the state visit of US President Trump and the First Lady, Melania took part in an engagement with Princess Kate and the Scouts, where they played outdoor games
While much of President Trump’s state visit involved the glitz and pageantry often associated with the royals, the Princess of Wales made sure to give the First Lady another view on the day-to-day work the House of Windsor gets up to.
The day after dressing up to the nines for the formal state banquet, Melania Trump accompanied Princess Kate to an outdoor engagement with the Scouts – the future queen is patron of the organisation – where the pair chatted with the youngsters, played games, and checked out the children’s artwork.
The Chief Scout Dwayne Fields oversaw the engagement with the children who are aged between four and six – and asked the First Lady some typically “unfiltered” questions.
READ MORE: Palace explains royal protocol after Melania Trump didn’t curtsy to King CharlesREAD MORE: Kate Middleton’s brother shows true feelings on Donald Trump visit with four words
Kate was a natural with the children during the engagement, Fields told People magazine, and Melania did not hesitate to get stuck in either, he revealed.
FLOTUS followed Kate’s lead, asking the children questions, and telling them stories in return, as they played parachute games, built bug hotels, and helped paint the falling leaves that mark the beginning of autumn that the kids, from a Squirrel Scout group in Lewisham, had collected.
Fields explained: “They knew they were coming to meet the princess, and one of the young asked Mrs. Trump: ‘Are you the next princess?’ That gives an idea of how little they knew about the situation. But the beauty of being with young people is they’re unfiltered, they’ll say what they think and ask questions,” he added.
He also said that Melania “was engaging, she asked lots of questions and the young people were willing to talk to her. And they even made some artwork together.
“It was really great to see and really great to have her to take the message back to the U.S. and what she’s seen us in the U.K. doing. This is the home of Scouts, and this is where it started, and for her to be able to take back what she experienced here is great. She said she really enjoyed and remarked that some of the artwork took her back to when she was younger.”
Kate’s “life’s work” is around the importance of early years development, and her interest in working with organisations that support young people is longstanding. She is reported to have approached the Scout Association herself after her wedding in 2011 to work with them, becoming their royal patron in 2012.
While living in North Wales with her husband Prince William in the first years of their marriage, she worked as a volunteer leader for the Scouts, before being asked to become Joint President in 2020, alongside the Duke of Kent.