Trump greeted by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace

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U.S. President Donald Trump and his wife Melania were greeted by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace on Monday.

The couple arrived at the palace by helicopter, landing in the Queen's back garden. Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, welcomed the Trumps before they met the monarch.

Trump will have a private lunch with the monarch and tea with her son Prince Charles before the state banquet in the evening.

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Queen Elizabeth II will give a speech and a toast, and Trump will also be expected to say a few words ahead of the banquet.

Trump joins Barack Obama and George W. Bush as the only U.S. presidents to have official state visits to Britain with Queen Elizabeth II.

Trump wades into UK's Brexit crisis as he arrives for the state visit

Trump arrived in Britain on Monday for a state visit, with his interventions on Brexit, outgoing Prime Minister Theresa May's successor and a row over China's Huawei set to overshadow the pomp and a banquet with Queen Elizabeth II.

U.S. President Donald Trump (R) meets Britain's Prince Charles as he arrives at Buckingham Palace, in London, Britain, June 3, 2019. /Reuters Photo

Trump and Melania will be treated to a full display of British royal pageantry during the June 3-5 visit: lunch and a formal dinner with Queen Elizabeth II, tea with heir Prince Charles, and a tour of Westminster Abbey, coronation church of English monarchs for 1,000 years.

Beyond the ceremony, though, the proudly unpredictable 45th U.S. president also brings demands: he has praised a more radical Brexit-supporting potential successor to May and his envoys have urged a tougher British stance toward Chinese telecoms giant Huawei.

"I look forward to being a great friend to the United Kingdom, and am looking very much forward to my visit," Trump wrote on Twitter minutes before Air Force One landed.

Trump calls London mayor 'stone cold loser'

Shortly before the landing, the president also renewed his verbal attacks on London Mayor Sadiq Khan, calling him a "stone-cold loser" after the mayor criticized the British government's decision to offer a state visit to Trump.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan speaks at the British Chamber of Commerce's annual conference in London, Britain, March 28, 2019. /Reuters Photo

"@SadiqKhan, who by all accounts has done a terrible job as Mayor of London, has been foolishly ‘nasty' to the visiting President of the United States, by far the most important ally of the United Kingdom," Trump said on Twitter.

"He is a stone-cold loser who should focus on crime in London, not me."

Before he set off he repeated his message that there was an opportunity for a "very big trade deal" between the two countries in the near future.

Britain's so-called special relationship with the United States is an enduring alliance, but some British voters see Trump as crude, volatile and opposed to their values on issues ranging from global warming to his treatment of women.

(Cover: U.S. President Donald Trump (R) and First Lady Melania Trump (L) meet with Britain's Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace in London, Britain, June 3, 2019. /Reuters Photo)

(With input from Reuters)