Donald Trump allegedly started bizarre rumour about King Charles and Princess Diana
Donald Trump may have been treated to a second UK state visit, but that doesn't mean his relationship with the Royal Family has been all plain sailing - and that's especially the case when it comes to Princess Diana.
The US president is currently on UK soil along with his wife, Melania, having been wined and dined at Windsor Castle yesterday, before meeting with Sir Keir Starmer at Chequers today (18 September).
But while royal commentators rush to analyse Melania's massive hat and Trump's apparent penchant for completely ignoring royal protocol, others have been looking back at the president's somewhat rocky history with the Royal Family.
Trump has made his feelings clear in the past about certain members of the Royal Family, including Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton.
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Trump branded Meghan Markle as 'terrible' and 'nasty', while she described him as 'divisive' and 'misogynistic' during his 2016 presidential bid.
Meanwhile, in 2012, he blamed the Princess of Wales after a pap invaded her privacy by snapping photos of her sunbathing topless on holiday in France.
"Kate Middleton is great – but she shouldn't be sunbathing in the nude – only herself to blame," he said at the time.
But it's Trump's history with Princess Diana which has really been raising eyebrows.
It all started between 1981 and 1983, back when Trump was a rising business mogul carving out his stamp on New York.
At the time, several news outlets began reporting that Princess Diana and Prince Charles were interested in a $5 million condo in Trump Tower.
But the rumours were quickly rubbished by Buckingham Palace, which said there was 'no truth' to the claims.
However, Trump was later accused of starting the rumour himself in order to get more eyes on his expanding real estate portfolio and boost interest in Trump Tower.
Speaking to the BBC, Dickie Arbiter, a spokesperson for the late Queen Elizabeth, said: "People have been doing it since the year dot, getting publicity through the royals. They will make outrageous comments and unless it's libellous, the royals won't do anything about it. Never explain, never complain is their mantra."
Trump did later address the incident, but he painted a slightly different picture.
In his 1987 book The Art of the Deal, Trump claimed that he got a call from a journalist asking whether the rumour that Charles and Diana were potentially interested in Trump Tower was true or not.
He wrote that he 'refused to confirm or deny' the rumour, but confessed that all the publicity did indeed help put eyes on Trump Tower.
Trump has also been slammed for comments he made about the late Princess Diana in a 2000 interview with Howard Stern, three years after she died.
Quizzed over whether he would have slept with Diana, Trump said: "Without even hesitation. She was truly beautiful and people don't realise how beautiful."
"She was crazy, but these are minor details," he added.
In recent years, however, it looks like Trump has walked back a bit on that, telling Piers Morgan in 2016: "I did respect her, but no interest from that standpoint. But I did meet her once, and I thought she was lovely."
Topics: Royal Family, Princess Diana, King Charles III, Donald Trump, Politics
Chloe Jackson