(CNN) US President Trump described Queen Elizabeth II as a "tremendous woman" in an interview with The Sun newspaper, hours before he and first lady Melania Trump are due to meet the monarch for tea on Friday.

"She is a tremendous woman," Trump told the newspaper during his UK working visit. "I really look forward to meeting her. I think she represents her country so well."

The US President also praised the Queen's ability to avoid controversy during her 66-year reign.

"If you think of it, for so many years she has represented her country, she has really never made a mistake. You don't see, like, anything embarrassing. She is just an incredible woman," he said.

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May shakes hands with US President Donald Trump as Philip May looks on. Trump's four-day trip is his first visit to the UK as president.

The US President was less effusive in his comments about British Prime Minister Theresa May, whom he dined with at a state dinner Thursday evening after a red-carpet arrival in the UK.

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