By George Lithgow

Copyright standard

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch is a guest at the lavish state banquet put on for Donald Trump despite being sued by the US president over a report linking him to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Mr Trump filed a lawsuit in July against The Wall Street Journal and Mr Murdoch – a day after the newspaper published a story reporting on his ties to the wealthy financier.

The newspaper described a sexually suggestive letter that reportedly bore Mr Trump’s name.

Mr Murdoch, 94, has also had a difficult relationship with the royal family in recent times.

Earlier this year, the Duke of Sussex received an “unequivocal apology” from his News Group Newspapers (NGN) after “serious intrusion” by The Sun, including unlawful activities by private investigators working for the paper, as Harry and the publisher settled their High Court case.

His brother, the Prince of Wales, reached a settlement with NGN over hacking claims in 2020, court documents suggested.

Mr Murdoch was sitting on the same side of the table as the Queen and William, but much further down to their left.

He was seated between Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s chief of staff Morgan McSweeney and Mr Murdoch’s fifth wife Elena Murdoch.

The King is seated in the middle of the table, between Mr Trump and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, while the Princess of Wales is on Mr Trump’s other side.

On the opposite side of the table is the Queen, who is between First Lady Melania Trump and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, while the William is on the other side of Mrs Trump.

Only eight members of the royal family are attending the opulent affair – the King, Queen, the Waleses, the Princess Royal and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence and the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, in a stark demonstration of the small number of royals in the working monarchy.

When the president carried out his last state visit in 2019, 16 royals joined him for the banquet.

Much has changed with the passing of time, a change in reign and the emergence of royal scandal.

The late Queen Elizabeth II was the host last time. The Duke of York was a guest then but is now absent, disgraced over his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein and no longer carrying out official royal duties.

The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh are away on overseas tours and the Duke of Kent is in mourning for his wife the Duchess of Kent and has become increasingly frail, as have Prince and Princess Michael of Kent and Princess Alexandra, who were all there in 2019.

Mr Trump will have plenty to discuss with guests from the golfing world including one of the greatest British players of the modern era, Sir Nick Faldo.

The president himself is an avid player, and owns two golf resorts in Scotland.

Other guests from the world of golf include English golfer Charley Hull, who recently won her third Ladies’ Professional Golf Association title, and Niall Farquharson, chairman of The R&A, one of the game’s governing bodies.

Big names at the banquet from the tech world will include Sam Altman, chief executive of OpenAI, Tim Cook, chief executive of Apple, and Jensen Huang, the founder of Nvidia.

It comes after Britain and the US struck a tech deal that could bring billions of pounds of investment to the UK.

Mr Trump’s daughter Tiffany Trump, the only member of his family believed to have been invited, was seated next to Mr Cook. Last time six years ago, Mr Trump was joined by a whole host of his nearest and dearest.

Several guests from the finance world were also invited.

Politicians attending include Sir Keir, leader of the opposition Kemi Badenoch, new Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle, and Scottish First Minister John Swinney.

Recently appointed Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy will also be present, despite describing Mr Trump in 2017 as a “racist and KKK/neo-Nazi sympathiser”.

Sir Keir’s chief of staff Mr McSweeney was there, despite reports he is facing growing pressure over pushing for Peter Mandelson’s appointment as UK ambassador to Washington.

And James Roscoe, the interim UK ambassador to the US was there in place of the sacked Lord Mandelson, seated between the King’s communications secretary Tobyn Andreae and Michael Kratsios, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology.

Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley will enjoy the banquet after his officers monitored a rally against Mr Trump’s second state visit in central London.