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Beneath gilded paintings and suits of armour in the royal residence, over one hundred and sixty attendees enjoyed fine cuisine at a lavish dinner to honor US President Donald Trump's unprecedented return official trip to the UK.

In addition to the flawless dining arrangements, three-course meal and specially crafted drink, the guest selection and, just as importantly, the seating arrangements is carefully planned, since the gathering is as much about international relations as it is about fine dining.

The attendee roster on this occasion was noticeably lacking screen stars or celebrity faces, with not even royal perennials like Sir David Beckham or Sir Elton John present.

Rather, the selection was mostly members of the royal family, tech and finance executives, and politicos from both sides of the Atlantic.

From Trump's seat of honour at the centre of the table, next to his monarch the British sovereign, those up and down the table included lesser-known but influential White House players to professional golfers.

Here were some notable guests - and their neighbours.

Corporate Executives

The table favored power, affluence and influence, including Apple's boss Tim Cook, the head of Nvidia, OpenAi's Sam Altman, the chief of Blackstone and - remaining influential despite his long career, Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch.

The last is a unexpected inclusion given the fact Trump is suing one of his newspapers for a massive sum over claims he authored a message accompanied by a sketch of a nude female to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Less surprising perhaps is that Murdoch, owner of The Sun and The Times, was sat next to the UK leader’s chief political spin doctor Morgan McSweeney.

From a monetary perspective however, Murdoch's Newscorp is relatively minor. Other attendees between them lead companies worth nearly an enormous sum - quadruple the value of the British economic output.

American corporate leaders dined with British monarchs and served up a £150 billion investment into the UK over the coming years.

Over half of that (£90 billion) is coming from investment firm Blackstone - little wonder that its CEO was seated next to the Prime Minister.

But what do these investors want in return? Eliminating the UK's digital services tax, watering down the online safety act? No and no, according to officials, who say they see the relationship similar to the one shared on security matters.

As the Ukraine war has demonstrated that Europe is reliant on the US for those things.

Some have described this as an takeover rather than funding, with former Deputy PM and ex-Meta employee Sir Nick Clegg cautioning that the UK could become a vassal state creating new dependencies on a handful of US companies.

For a government and nation that is in urgent requirement of capital and economic expansion, you want to be a priority recipient when it's being allocated - and the UK does appear to be at the forefront of negotiations.

Trump Entourage

A bulk of the table - nearly twenty-four seats - were occupied by the president’s team, including his wife, child, family member, and a array of high-ranking officials of his administration covering everything from foreign policy to AI.

Naturally accompanying him was his wife, Melania Trump, whose nameplate simply read "The President’s Wife". Her placement was across from her husband, in between the Queen Consort and the heir to the throne, William, while the Princess of Wales was next to the US leader.

Top diplomat the foreign affairs chief scored a prestigious seat next to the monarch, with Lady Victoria Starmer, not her husband, on his other side.

Tiffany Trump, fourth child of the president, was the only one of Trump's children to be present at the state banquet this time.

On the last state visit in 2019, she was among multiple children to attend. Her involvement has been less active in the Trump administrations than her brothers and sisters, but some like her sister have taken a step back in his second term.

Tiffany's husband the businessman also attended. Familiar with London, having been educated in the city.

He does not hold role in the Trump administration, but the president selected his father the senior Boulos as a key advisor, and the younger Boulos was placed in a visible position beside the Princess of Wales.

The real estate mogul, now serving as Trump's special envoy who is playing a crucial part in international strategy on the wars in conflict zones, likely found much to talk about with his neighbour Jonathan Powell, Starmer's top defense official.

Susan Wiles, was the election strategist in the recent presidential race. He called her the "cool operator" who operates mostly "in the back", but she is known as one of the most formidable political operatives in the US.

Her placement was next to someone with another important but behind-the-scenes role - private secretary to the King, Sir Clive Alderton.

Another apt pairing was David Sacks, the White House's digital assets lead, next to the AI pioneer, CEO and co-founder of Google's DeepMind, a international AI company.

Royals

The monarch was seated next to his guest of honour Trump and Rubio, while the King's son’s wife the Princess of Wales was on Trump's other flank.

Queen Camilla was across the table, next to the president’s wife, but more notably, also seated beside the US finance chief the economic official.

Beside the First Lady, the Prince of Wales could discuss more domestic issues with his other neighbour, Paula Reynolds, head of the utility company.

The Princess Royal, who is known for her love of horses, was sitting next to equine expert John Gosden.

On her other side was the US diplomatic representative to the UK the envoy, who hosted Trump and the First Lady at his official home in the London location the first night they arrived in the UK, with Chancellor Rachel Reeves at his opposite elbow.

Additional royal family members were seated next to White House powerbrokers.

Her spouse Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence sat next to Trump's senior aide for policy and domestic safety counsel the official.

Next to the royal relative, the relative of the former monarch, was the communications director, White House deputy chief of staff.

The Duchess of Gloucester was seated next to the legislative affairs deputy, assistant for government relations.