Europe

Trump state visit plans put queen in 'difficult position'

Associated Press
Published | Updated

Demonstrators hold a banner during a protest against U.S President Donald Trump's controversial travel ban on refugees and people from seven mainly-Muslim countries, in London, Monday, Jan. 30, 2017. On Friday President Trump signed an executive order halting the US refugee programme for 120 days, indefinitely banning all Syrian refugees and suspended issuing visas for people from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria or Yemen for at least 90 days. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant) (The Associated Press)

Demonstrators hold banners during a protest against U.S President Donald Trump's controversial travel ban on refugees and people from seven mainly-Muslim countries, outside Downing Street in London, Monday, Jan. 30, 2017. On Friday President Trump signed an executive order halting the US refugee programme for 120 days, indefinitely banning all Syrian refugees and suspended issuing visas for people from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria or Yemen for at least 90 days. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant) (The Associated Press)

Demonstrators hold banners during a protest against U.S President Donald Trump's controversial travel ban on refugees and people from seven mainly-Muslim countries, in Oxford, England, Monday, Jan. 30, 2017. On Friday President Trump signed an executive order halting the US refugee programme for 120 days, indefinitely banning all Syrian refugees and suspended issuing visas for people from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria or Yemen for at least 90 days. (AP Photo/Sheila Norman-Culp) (The Associated Press)

The British government is holding fast to plans to invite U.S. President Donald Trump for a state visit even as protests mount.

Peter Ricketts, a former head of the Foreign Office, said Tuesday the invitation has put Queen Elizabeth II in a "very difficult position" because of the furor surrounding Trump's travel ban on refugees and people from some Muslim-majority countries.

He said in a letter to The Times that the invitation to Trump was "ill-judged" and should not have been made until Trump had spent some years in office.

The queen makes invitations to state visits on the advice of government officials, and traditionally hosts the visitor in Buckingham Palace.

Protesters took to the streets in London and other cities Monday calling for the trip to be cancelled.