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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Matt Mathers

Trump to publish letters from King Charles without permission in book revealing Putin friendship

AFP via Getty Images

A private letter written by King Charles to Donald Trump is set to be published without the monarch’s permission.

The former president, facing 34 charges for falsifying business records, plans to publish the correspondence on Tuesday.

It forms part of a new book in which Mr Trump will reveal his correspondence with other world leaders, public figures and celebrities.

The letter from King Charles, written in 1995 when he was Prince of Wales, thanks Mr Trump for offering him an honorary membership to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Flordia and will be published without consent from Buckingham Palace, The Daily Telegraph reports.

The future king wishes Mr Trump success in his new private members’ club, which the former US president opened after purchasing the mansion, and expressed an interest in visiting.

The Prince also reportedly suggested Mr Trump, who was a property developer at the time, visit his Institute of Architecture in London.

In a separate letter, dated  3 July 1997, just weeks before her death in Paris, Diana, Princess of Wales, thanked “Donald” for flowers he sent her on her birthday.

Prince Charles, Queen Elizabeth II, President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump prepare to meet veterans during the D-day 75 Commemorations on 5 June 2019 (Getty Images)

“They truly are quite magnificent, and I am deeply touched that you have thought of me in this special way,” she reportedly wrote.

Letters to Trump’ includes private correspondence with former presidents including Barack Obama, George W Bush and Richard Nixon, along with celebrities like Oprah Winfrey and Michael Jackson.

There are letters from foreign leaders, including former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.

The letters serve, in part, as a time capsule from an era before Trump became a polarizing political figure, when he was still a New York celebrity only flirting with running for office.

They also feature a collection of strongmen with whom Trump has kept in touch since leaving office and as he wages a third White House run.

“We had lots of great letters from lots of great people and not so great people, to be honest with you,” Mr Trump told reporters in a phone call last month to discuss the book.

“But they’re very famous people. And probably there’s never been such diversity as this in terms of people where the letters come from and who they come from.”

The book contains an exchange of letters between Mr Trump and Vladimir Putin in 2013, announcing the “exciting news” that the Miss Universe Pageant was being brought to Russia.

Inviting the Russian president to be the guest of honour, Mr Trump added: “I know that our Moscow pageant will be our biggest and best Miss Universe ever, and we are already overwhelmed with a very positive and extensive response from both international and Russian media.”

Mr Trump met the late Queen twice as president, first at Windsor Castle for tea in 2018 and then during a full state visit the following year.

The former president often spoke of the way his Scottish-born mother loved the Royals and the Queen in particular.

He also made clear that his two visits to the UK were among the highlights of his time as president.

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