Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall have been welcomed by Donald and Melania Trump for a banquet dinner.

The royal couple have arrived at Winfield House, the US Ambassador's residence in Regent's Park, for the evening which includes Theresa May and Jeremy Hunt in the guestlist.

As the royals stood at the entrance at the house for photos with the President and First Lady, the Prince of Wales and Trump shared a joke.

Guests at the black tie dinner are dining on fresh burrata cheese with heritage tomatoes, basil, and Maldon salt; grilled fillet of beef with pommes Anna, watercress pure, celeriac and chantenay carrots; followed by summer berries, homemade vanilla ice cream with Muscovado sugar tuile. 

All the wines are from the Iron Horse winery in northern California: a chardonnay with the starter, a pinot noir with the main course, and a brut reserve with the pudding.

The setting is far more intimate than at Buckingham Palace last night. The house’s dining room is set with six tables each with around 10 places.

President Trump is sitting on one table with Prince Charles and Theresa May on either side of him. On the other side of Mrs May is Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt.

Across the small room, the First Lady is sitting between the Duchess of Cornwall and Mrs May's husband, Philip.

The most intriguing name on another table is a setting for a Mr Blair. Officials confirmed this was not Tony Blair.

There was tight security around Winfield House, the US ambassador’s residence in Regent’s Park, central London, where the Trumps have been staying on their state visit.

The road to the residence was fenced off and the perimeter guarded by large numbers of uniformed British police. Inside the perimeter staff moved around in golf buggies and US secret service officers stood sentinel.

Winfield House, a red brick Georgian-style mansion built for the Woolworths heiress Barbara Hutton in 1936 replaced a smaller white stucco Regency villa on the site.

It stands in 12.5 acres of lush grounds in the north west corner of the park behind 15 ft iron gates on land that was once part of a “great forest, with wooded glades and lairs of wild beasts, deer both red and fallow, wild bulls and boars”.

Donald Trump has used his state visit to meddle in British politics by meeting a string of politicians behind Theresa May's back.

Earlier this evening he met with Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage, who said he'd had a "good meeting" with the US president.

"He really believes in Brexit and is loving his trip to London," Farage tweeted.

Farage said he came away from the meeting with the impression that the US was ready to do a post-Brexit trade deal with the UK but that the Government were unprepared.

Former cabinet ministers Iain Duncan Smith and Owen Paterson have also met Trump.

The President is also expected to meet with Michael Gove and Jeremy Hunt during his trip, all in "executive time" carved out during the visit.

Much of the behind-closed-doors dalliancing will happen at Trump's London hideaway, the opulent US Ambassador's residence in Regent's Park.

But Boris Johnson, who he praised as an "excellent" future Prime Minister, turned down his offer and opted for a 20-minute phone call instead.

The President revealed Labour's leader Jeremy Corbyn asked for a meeting – but Trump said no.

Earlier today, Trump held a joint news conference with Theresa May .

The President spoke about his night at the state banquet yesterday, calling the Queen a "fantastic woman".

"We want to thank her majesty the Queen, who I had a lovely dinner with last night.

"A fantastic person, fantastic woman."

He also spoke on Brexit, saying: "I would think it will happen and it probably should happen.

"This is a great, great country and it wants its own identity, it wants to have its own borders, it wants to run its own affairs.

"This is a very, very special place.

"I think it will happen and I believe the prime minister has brought it to a very good point where something will take place in the not too distant future.

"I think she has done a very good job. I believe it would be good for the country."

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