“The Red Carpet of Empire: How Britain's Royal Pageantry Serves White Supremacist Power” - 16 September 2025

Kia ora koutou katoa - greetings to you all.

When King Charles III rolls out the red carpet for Donald Trump's unprecedented second state visit to the UK from September 16-18, 2025, we witness more than mere diplomatic theatre. We observe the calculated deployment of imperial pageantry to legitimise and strengthen white supremacist power structures that have oppressed Indigenous peoples for centuries. This historic visit - the first time any US president has received two state visits - reveals how the British monarchy continues to function as a propaganda machine for neoliberal capitalism and colonial domination.

The timing is no coincidence. Trump's arrival capitalises on Britain's largest far-right demonstration in modern history, where 110,000 anti-immigrant protesters marched through London just days before his state visit. Meanwhile, the dismissal of UK Ambassador Peter Mandelson over his extensive ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein creates a convenient distraction from the monarchy's own complicity in validating authoritarian power.

King Charles III crowning Donald Trump in royal ceremony

Background: The Monarchy as Colonial Institution

State visits represent far more than diplomatic courtesy. They are carefully orchestrated displays of imperial power, designed to reinforce hierarchies that place European monarchs and white Western leaders at the apex of global authority. The British monarchy, built on centuries of Indigenous land theft and cultural genocide across the Pacific, remains one of the world's most potent symbols of white supremacist legitimacy.

From a Māori worldview grounded in tino rangatiratanga and manaakitanga, the monarchy represents the antithesis of legitimate authority. True mana flows from the people and the whenua, not from bloodlines that gained power through violence and theft. The Crown Colony system established in New Zealand from 1840 exemplifies how the monarchy systematically destroyed Indigenous governance structures to impose white supremacist rule.

The significance of Trump receiving this honour twice cannot be understated. Previous US presidents serving second terms were typically offered modest tea or lunch meetings, yet Trump - a convicted felon who has championed white nationalist causes - receives the full imperial treatment. This represents the monarchy's deliberate choice to elevate authoritarianism over democracy, white supremacy over Indigenous rights.

Pomp, Pageantry and Propaganda

Trump's visit features the complete arsenal of royal propaganda: Red Arrows flyovers, carriage processions with the Household Cavalry, a state banquet at Windsor Castle, and ceremonial welcomes designed to reinforce the legitimacy of both institutions. The choreography includes Trump laying wreaths at Queen Elizabeth II's tomb - a symbolic passing of colonial authority from one generation of oppressors to the next.

This matters profoundly to Māori because it demonstrates how colonial institutions continue to validate leaders who threaten Indigenous rights globally. Trump's record includes promoting the same "one law for all" rhetoric that far-right groups use to attack Māori rights in Aotearoa, while his use of fascist language about immigrants "poisoning the blood" echoes historical white supremacist rhetoric.

The visit's timing alongside Britain's massive anti-immigrant protests, featuring MAGA hats and calls to "send them home," reveals the monarchy's role in legitimising white nationalist movements globally. Elon Musk's video address to the rally, calling for regime change in Britain, demonstrates the international coordination of far-right forces that the monarchy now validates through royal ceremony.

Massive anti-immigrant protest in London with far-right symbolism

The Colonial Spectacle: Manufacturing Consent Through Ceremony

The choreography of royal ceremony serves a calculated purpose: to manufacture consent for systems of domination that Indigenous peoples worldwide continue to resist. When Trump boards royal carriages and participates in military ceremonies at Windsor Castle, we observe the deliberate conflation of historical legitimacy with contemporary white supremacist power.

This spectacle directly contradicts Māori values of authentic leadership. In te ao Māori, rangatira earn their mana through service to their people, demonstrated wisdom, and spiritual connection to their whakapapa and whenua. The monarchy's hereditary system, by contrast, concentrates power based solely on bloodline - a fundamentally white supremacist concept that Indigenous peoples have resisted for centuries.

The timing reveals its propagandistic intent. Britain is using royal pomp to influence Trump on trade and Ukraine policy, while Trump's fascination with the monarchy stems from his mother's reverence for royal spectacle. The very invitation was delivered during discussions of UK-US trade agreements, exposing the transactional nature of this supposed honour.

Trump's obsession with royal validation extends beyond political calculation to personal pathology. His attempts to pursue Princess Diana after her divorce, bombarding her with flowers at Kensington Palace, reveal a pattern of treating the monarchy as the ultimate symbol of white supremacist status. Journalist Selina Scott noted that "Trump clearly saw Diana as the ultimate trophy wife" - a mindset that exemplifies how colonial institutions function as objects of white male domination fantasies.

British Empire's systematic extraction of wealth from colonized regions totaling over $8 trillion in 2025 value

White Supremacy Wrapped in Ermine and Gold

The language surrounding this visit exposes the white supremacist assumptions underlying royal protocol. Media coverage consistently describes the event as "historic" and "unprecedented," yet fails to interrogate why a figure who has repeatedly used dehumanising language about immigrants and promoted white supremacist conspiracy theories deserves such treatment when Indigenous leaders fighting for their peoples' survival are systematically excluded from such platforms.

This reflects the broader pattern of how white supremacist institutions legitimise each other. The monarchy - built on the genocide of Indigenous peoples across the Pacific - validates Trump's presidency, while Trump's presence reinforces the monarchy's claimed relevance in the modern world. Both institutions depend on maintaining hierarchies that place white, Christian, male authority at the top.

The Epstein scandal provides a revealing glimpse into these interconnections. Peter Mandelson's dismissal as UK Ambassador came just days before Trump's visit after emails revealed he called Epstein "my best pal" and supported him even after his conviction for soliciting minors. Yet this corruption scandal, involving a man who helped broker billion-pound deals while serving as a British government minister, receives far less ceremony than Trump's royal reception.

The juxtaposition reveals the monarchy's priorities: white supremacist leaders receive red carpets and golden carriages, while Indigenous leaders demanding reparations for colonial genocide are ignored. Te Pāti Māori joined international Indigenous leaders calling on King Charles to acknowledge the "horrific impacts" of colonisation, yet these calls are dismissed while Trump receives unprecedented honour.

UK ambassador Peter Mandelson meeting with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein

Neoliberal Capitalism Dressed as Tradition

Behind the pageantry lies a nakedly neoliberal agenda. Britain's post-Brexit economy desperately needs trade deals, and the royal treatment serves to soften Trump's protectionist instincts. This represents the monarchy's evolution from direct colonial administrator to indirect facilitator of global capitalism.

The connection between ceremony and commerce becomes explicit when examining the visit's coordination with anti-immigrant protests. The timing allows Trump to capitalise on the far-right energy generated by Tommy Robinson's rally, while providing royal legitimacy for increasingly authoritarian policies targeting migrants and minorities.

The monarchy's wealth itself derives from centuries of colonial extraction, with the British Empire systematically looting Indigenous lands across the Pacific. Edward Gibbon Wakefield's "systematic colonisation" explicitly ignored Indigenous rights to facilitate wealth extraction, establishing patterns that continue through modern royal diplomacy.

This aligns perfectly with neoliberalism's core strategy: using cultural and ceremonial authority to obscure material relationships of domination. The gold leaf and horse guards distract from the fundamentally transactional nature of the relationship between two declining imperial powers seeking to maintain global relevance through white supremacist solidarity.

Timeline showing how the monarchy prioritizes colonial validation over Indigenous recognition across nearly two centuries

Implications: Indigenous Peoples Pay the Price

The broader implications of this royal validation extend far beyond Britain's shores. When the world's media broadcasts images of Trump receiving royal honours just days after 110,000 far-right protesters marched through London chanting anti-immigrant slogans, it sends a clear message to Indigenous peoples globally: colonial institutions will always prioritise white supremacist leaders over Indigenous rights and sovereignty.

This has direct relevance for Māori fighting co-governance attacks in Aotearoa. The same far-right networks that organised Britain's anti-immigrant protests regularly cite British constitutional arrangements as models for dismantling Indigenous rights. The monarchy's validation of Trump provides ammunition for those arguing that "traditional" (read: colonial) institutions should take precedence over Indigenous sovereignty.

The ceremonial elevation of Trump also reinforces patterns of Indigenous exclusion from global decision-making. While a convicted felon who has promoted conspiracy theories about immigrants having "bad genes" receives unprecedented royal treatment, Indigenous leaders fighting climate change and defending their peoples' survival struggle for basic recognition on international stages.

The hidden connections become clear when examining the network of far-right validation. Elon Musk's support for Tommy Robinson's anti-immigrant rally, combined with Trump's royal reception and the convenient dismissal of the Epstein-linked ambassador, reveals a coordinated effort to legitimise white supremacist authoritarianism while silencing its critics.

Timeline showing correlation between Trump's white supremacist rhetoric and royal validation through state visits

Seeing Through the Spectacle

The Māori Green Lantern Fighting Misinformation And Disinformation From The Far Right

The red carpet being rolled out for Donald Trump's second state visit reveals the monarchy's continued function as a legitimising force for white supremacist power structures. Far from being quaint historical tradition, royal ceremony actively reinforces hierarchies that oppress Indigenous peoples worldwide.

The calculated timing - exploiting Britain's largest far-right demonstration while providing damage control for the Epstein scandal - exposes how colonial institutions coordinate to protect white supremacist power. When 110,000 protesters march through London wearing MAGA hats and calling for deportations, and days later Trump receives royal validation at Windsor Castle, the message is unmistakable: white supremacy will always find sanctuary in colonial palaces.

As tangata whenua of Aotearoa, we must recognise how these distant ceremonies impact our own struggles for tino rangatiratanga. The monarchy that signed Te Tiriti o Waitangi in 1840 while systematically violating its promises now provides diplomatic cover for leaders who threaten Indigenous rights globally. Understanding these connections helps us see through the pageantry to the power structures it serves.

The path forward requires us to reject the legitimacy that royal ceremony seeks to manufacture. True authority flows from service to people and place, not from bloodlines built on genocide. When we see Trump in his golden carriage, we must remember the Indigenous peoples whose lands paid for that gold, whose ancestors' bones fill the foundations of those castles, whose descendants still fight for recognition while convicted felons receive royal honours.

The monarchy's priorities are crystal clear: white supremacist authoritarians receive red carpets and state banquets, while Indigenous peoples demanding justice for centuries of genocide are dismissed and ignored. This is not historical accident but deliberate policy, not quaint tradition but active oppression.

E kore au e ngaro, he kākano i ruia mai i Rangiātea - I will never be lost, for I am a seed sown in Rangiātea.

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Mauri ora,
Ivor Jones - Te Māori Green Lantern