Trump Acknowledges Union Flag Upside Down Near White House

Maintenance crews near the White House put up the union flag upside down last week when they hung the Australian flag instead of the Union Jack. The error appeared on lampposts before King Charles and Queen Camilla arrived in Washington on Monday. The Transportation Secretary’s office said the mistake was soon rectified.

White House Lampposts

The wrong flag was part of a run of lamppost decorations installed near the White House ahead of the royal visit. The mistake stood out because the visit had been planned for America’s semiquincentennial and drew public attention to a route that was meant to be ceremonial, not improvised.

King Charles and Queen Camilla landed on Monday and were received by President Donald Trump and the First Lady in the West Wing for tea and a tour of the White House’s new beehives. During that visit, a bee landed on Trump’s outstretched palm.

Trump On The South Lawn

The next morning, American military units and bands marched through rain on the South Lawn for Charles’s welcome ceremony. Trump reviewed the troops and bands with a marine guard at a fast clip while Charles trailed slightly behind, and ceremonial cannonballs were fired during the event.

From a podium, Trump said, “What a beautiful, British day this is,” and added, “And it really is.” He also called the gaping hole where the East Wing once stood his “readjustment.”

Trump later gestured to a tree Queen Elizabeth II had given the U.S. decades ago and said, “It was a young and beautiful tree, and look at it now,” adding, “It’s tripled in size and tripled in strength, very much as our nations have.”

The flag mix-up was corrected quickly, but it still became part of a visit designed to project ceremony at the White House. For people watching the royal trip, the immediate takeaway is simple: the mistaken Australian flag did not stay in place, and the rest of the visit went ahead as planned.