WATCH THE VICE PRESIDENTIAL MOTORCADE ARRIVING AT HAMPTON COURT MOTORCADE
Teams of armed police were amongst a massive security presence at Hampton Court Palace today for a low-key visit by the US Vice President JD Vance and his family, Teddington Town can exclusively reveal.
Scores of disappointed visitors arriving by car and on foot at the Palace were turned away and informed that the gardens would not open until midday.
Uniformed police officers manned the gates and the nearby towpath with unmarked police cars and armed officers manned all entry and exit points.
Officers from the special Territorial Support Group were seen entering the Palace grounds.
A police helicopter hovered overhead as the Vice Presidential cavalcade arrived at just after 11am. The convoy of black vehicles were led by at least ten police motorcycle outriders.
The police blocked Hampton Court bridge and approaching roads so that the convoy could drive in on the wrong side of the road straight into the Palace gates.
Casually dressed US Secret Service agents could be seen in their US left-hand drive vehicles. Two ambulances were parked nearby. Staff at the gates would only say it was a ‘private visit.’
The Coppernose cafe directly opposite the Palace gates was doing a roaring trade as word spread that President Trump’s right man was the mystery VIP visiting Henry V111’s historic home on the Thames.
The Vice President has been spending time with the Foreign Secretary David Lammy at his country residence Chevening House where the pair went fishing together and Vance is planning a family holiday in the Cotswolds, it has been reported.
One wag on a social media post wrote: “Seems Trump wants Home and Bushy Parks for a new golf course and Hampton Court might make a nice club house after modernisation.”