Helen Bach Column: The unprecedented Presidential second state visit

Maybe for different reasons depending on your political viewpoints - but from this bystander's perspective, it all seemed to go jolly well, and the Trumps seemed very happy with the welcome they received from the Royal Family and Sir Keir Starmer.

I'll be completely honest, I watched it with a mixture of curiosity and cringe, which is why I'll never be a diplomat as I wouldn't be able to toady up to people I don't really like very much - which is also why I wouldn't make a good pub landlady, or so my husband tells me!

Anyway, I, like a lot of other people I'm guessing, was fascinated by the pomp and ceremony, the outfits, and the pictures from the State Banquet.

Melania's burgundy hat! An on-trend colour for Autumn I believe, and quite magnificent in its ability to hide her expressions from the outside world.

That banquet table - I've genuinely never seen anything like it! I marvelled for a while, wondering if it was one long table, or made up from several - after some research, I can report that it is indeed created from several and can be adjusted for gatherings of varying sizes. Handy for family Christmases, I imagine.

I also read some of the menu, and I have to say I was a little bit underwhelmed - chicken for the main course? I'm sure it was wonderful, free-range organic etc - but chicken wrapped in courgettes? Apparently the menu was written in French too - why is that, wouldn't it be more appropriate to have it written in the language that both King Charles and President Trump speak?

I also wondered if anyone felt the urge to swap their named place cards about? I'm sure we've all felt like that on occasion: you turn up to a 'do' to find you're not placed next to the person you've arrived with, and you do a little switch about thinking/hoping nobody will notice - or maybe that's just me...