(Left) First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, Nov. 9, 2000 (Photo: White House Historical Association) (Right) Britain's King Charles and U.S. President Donald Trump inWashington, D.C., U.S., April 28, 2026. REUTERS/Suzanne Plunkett
The 200-year-old White House mansion has among its lower-level rooms the "China Room," which features a place setting chosen by first families of past administrations. It appears that one of President Donald Trump's favorites is the exquisitely gilded china with an architectural elegance that former Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton chose in 2000.
When former First Lady Caroline Harrison arrived at the White House in 1889 with her husband, President Benjamin Harrison, she began an effort to locate some of the lost artifacts of previous administrations to preserve American history.
The White House Historical Association website describes her project to find as much furniture, tableware and artifacts from the occupants of the previous 90 years.
She found it “distressing, to go through this mansion of nearly a century... [and] to find not even a piece of furniture or china or anything else of value associated with the home, habits or comforts of the domestic circle of the early executives," press clippings from the time quoted Mrs. Harrison saying.
But even after her work, there wasn't much presidential china left. Journalist Abby Gunn Baker was inspired by Colonel Theodore A. Bingham, the officer in charge of public buildings and grounds, to write a piece on the topic in 1901. The goal was to raise awareness about the need for preservation.
Baker warned, “If somebody does not do that pretty soon, there won’t be any left to preserve.” She spent four months studying Treasury Department records and other government agencies in an effort to find the lost White House china, the Historical Association explained. By the time first lady Edith Roosevelt came into office, “The White House China Collection” was officially launched.
Since then, each first lady, representing the first family, has chosen her own signature collection. There are only a few administrations that did not contribute their own china pattern, and one of those was the first lady Melania Trump. The endeavor of creating the place-settlements "takes significant time," CNN reported in 2021, the day after President Joe Biden was inaugurated. Former first lady Michelle Obama began the project in 2011, and it was finally delivered in 2015. So, it isn't a project that can be launched at the last minute without adding high costs.
When the Trumps welcomed King Charles III to the White House on Tuesday evening for a state dinner, the dishes chosen came from the Clintons. Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy appeared to be among those invited as a guest to attend the state dinner. He took a photo of the opulently framed in creamy gold filigree before him to post on X.
It was the same tableware that Mrs. Clinton held up to show the press in 2000.
According to CNN, the Trumps appear to favor the aesthetics of his political foe, using it for two Trump-hosted state dinners in his first administration. Tuesday's event was the first of the second term for the Trumps to deploy the china.
"The service was made by Lenox China of Trenton, New Jersey," the archival photos explain. She was commemorating the 200th birthday of the White House. It was former President John Adams who was the first to move into the mansion in 1800. The Clintons welcomed all previous presidents and first ladies for a special dinner in the East Room to "honor the house and reflect on their contributions to its history."
