Photo: Yui Mok/WPA Pool/Getty Images
After hiding under a hat yesterday for the first portion of her and President Donald Trump’s state visit to the U.K., Melania decided to show her face on Thursday during an outing with Kate Middleton. The First Lady emerged today looking delighted to get some one-on-one time with Middleton and a bunch of kids.
While Trump was busy celebrating Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension, Melania and Middleton hung out at Frogmore Gardens, where they met with Chief Scout Dwayne Fields and the children of the Scouts’ Squirrels program, who were working on getting their “Go Wild” badge. Per People, the women joined the children as they made drawings of nature and “bug hotels.” Later, they got Melania and Middleton to play with one of those gym-class parachutes, which made the First Lady look happier than she has in years.
Photo: Andrew Testa/Pool/Getty Images
It wasn’t just being around a bunch of kids with little British accents that had Melania in a good mood. She seemed to really enjoy her time with Middleton, as you can see in this video of them chatting and smiling while walking around the grounds.
Scout and about: The Princess of Wales and First Lady are at Frogmore Gardens, in grounds of Windsor Castle. They are joined by Chief Scout Dwayne Fields and members of the Scouts’ Squirrels programme taking part in their ‘Go Wild Badge’. pic.twitter.com/QCoXlLDrCO
— Matt Wilkinson (@MattSunRoyal) September 18, 2025
You have to wonder what they’re talking about that has them smiling like that. Some of it is obviously the required demeanor of politicians getting photographed during a “casual” moment, but they do seem to be genuinely enjoying each other’s company. The royals don’t really talk about politics, so that’s off the table. The safest bet is that they were talking about children, either the ones they have or the ones that were in front of them. But we can’t rule out the possibility that they spent at least 90 seconds discussing their suede jackets. Maybe they coordinated?
They might both look so happy because last night’s state dinner was finally behind them. Both women had rough spots on the seating chart, with Melania next to Prince William and Middleton sandwiched between President Trump and Michael Boulos, Tiffany Trump’s husband. It’s not that hard to figure out what Melania and Middleton could talk about, but what the heck were Melania and William going to get into during an interminable dinner? During his remarks, Trump called Middleton “so radiant and so healthy and so beautiful,” which would maybe be fine if literally anyone else were saying it.
Trump and Melania are headed back to the States today, and their teams are probably debriefing about what was, overall, a pretty successful trip for them. The biggest takeaway, I think, is that if you want Melania to look like she isn’t regretting all of the life decisions that brought her to this point, she should be separated from her husband and given a giant parachute to play with.
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