Sawt Falasteen - Trump gets lavish UK banquet - and an awkward guest

As Trump dined on watercress panna cotta and chicken ballotine, in the same room was the media mogul whom he has sued over a story about a birthday message to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

His presence didn't seem to take the shine off the event for the 79-year-old Trump, who said of the relationship with Britain that "the word special does not begin to do it justice."

King Charles III laid on an extraordinary show for the dinner in the grand St George's Hall of the nearly 1,000-year-old Windsor Castle just outside London.

The giant banquet table itself was the length of 2.7 Marine Ones -- the helicopter that ferried Trump to the castle -- and featured 139 candles, 1,452 pieces of cutlery, and just over 100 staff, royal officials said on a walk-through for journalists including AFP.

The table itself took a week to put together, they said.

- Watercress panna cotta -

The meal itself mixed fine dining touches with the simple tastes that Trump is known for when it comes to food.

The first course was a Hampshire watercress panna cotta with parmesan shortbread and quail egg salad, Buckingham Palace said.

For the main event, an organic Norfolk chicken ballotine wrapped in courgettes, with a thyme and savoury infused jus.

Dessert was a vanilla ice cream bombe with Kentish raspberry sorbet interior and lightly poached Victoria plums.

The drinks in particular were a nod to Trump -- even if the president is a lifelong teetotaller who guzzles Diet Coke instead.

As part of the huge effort Britain has made to woo him on his unprecedented second state visit, they chose drinks that reflected his own heritage.

A 1945 Warre's port served after dinner is "in recognition of Donald J. Trump as the 45th, as well as the 47th, President", Buckingham Palace said. They also chose a 1912 Hennessy cognac from the birth year of his Scottish mother.

The British banquet's musical playlist also featured some of Trump's favorite songs that he has played at his election rallies, from opera classic "Nessun Dorma" to Elton John's "Tiny Dancer."

- Murdoch surprise -

While the luxurious dishes served up for Trump were not a surprise, one of the guests was.

Trump sued Australian-born media magnate Murdoch and the Wall Street Journal for $10 billion in June over the publication of an article about him and the late Epstein.

The Journal reported that in 2003 the then-real estate tycoon wrote a suggestive birthday letter to Epstein. Trump denies that he wrote the letter or signed it.

The scandal had already cast a shadow over the visit as UK ambassador to Washington Peter Mandelson was sacked days before over his own ties to the disgraced Epstein.

It did not stop Murdoch from being on the guest list, which officials said had been drawn up jointly by the British government and the White House, with seating plans arranged by the royal family.

Murdoch, 94, whose media business has long made him a kingmaker in British politics, was spotted mingling with other guests but was sat far along the huge table from the US president.

The other guests were more conventional, including heir to the UK throne Prince William and his wife Princess Catherine, and Trump's daughter Tiffany and her husband.

Several US tech CEOs were also at the dinner, including Nvidia's Jensen Huang and Open AI's Sam Altman, reflecting the billions in tech deals going down during the visit.

Trump raised a laugh in his short opening speech as he joked about King Charles's ability to remember the names of all the dinner guests he had shaken hands with.

"He stood in line and shook about 150 hands. And the king knew every single person and every single company. And some of them had bad names like XYZ-Q3," Trump said.

W.AbuLaban--SF-PST