{"id":23502,"date":"2026-04-27T19:14:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T19:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/23502\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T19:14:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T19:14:09","slug":"king-charles-iii-heads-to-washington-on-a-delicate-mission-to-restore-the-u-k-u-s-relationship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/23502\/","title":{"rendered":"King Charles III heads to Washington on a delicate mission to restore the U.K.-U.S. relationship"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Two and a half centuries after the American colonies declared independence from Britain under King George III, his descendant King Charles III<\/a> arrived in the United States on Monday with trans-Atlantic ties under strain and security in the spotlight.<\/p>\n

A shooting at a Washington dinner attended by President Trump on Saturday sparked a last-minute security review of the four-day state visit, intended to celebrate the United States\u2019 250th anniversary, and the U.S.-U.K. \u201cspecial relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n

Buckingham Palace said the king \u201cis greatly relieved to hear that the president, first lady and all guests have been unharmed.\u201d After a security review, the palace said the trip \u201cwill proceed as planned.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump praises the king but derides Starmer<\/p>\n

A rift between the U.K. government and Trump over issues including the Iran war had already raised the political stakes for the British monarch\u2019s visit.<\/p>\n

In recent weeks, Trump has lambasted Prime Minister Keir Starmer over his unwillingness to join U.S. military attacks on Iran, dismissing Britain\u2019s leader as \u201cnot Winston Churchill,\u201d the World War II prime minister who coined the phrase \u201cspecial relationship\u201d for the U.K.-U.S. bond.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s part of a wider rift between Trump and the United States\u2019 NATO allies, whom he has called \u201ccowards\u201d and \u201cuseless\u201d for not joining action against Iran. A leaked Pentagon email suggested the U.S. could reassess support for the U.K.\u2019s sovereignty over the Falkland Islands in the south Atlantic. Britain and Argentina fought a 1982 war over the islands, also known as the Islas Malvinas.<\/p>\n

The president insists the political chill won\u2019t affect the royal visit. Charles \u201chas nothing to do with that,\u201d Trump said in March, meaning NATO.<\/p>\n

The president has spoken in glowing terms about Charles, repeatedly referring to the monarch as his \u201cfriend\u201d and a \u201cgreat guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also continues to mention his \u201camazing\u201d trip to the U.K. in September with first lady Melania Trump for an unprecedented second state visit. Starmer hand-delivered the invitation from the king in the Oval Office five weeks after Trump returned to office, in a very public attempt to woo the Republican president.<\/p>\n

The U.K. royal family laid on pomp and pageantry for the Trumps, with scarlet-clad guardsmen, brass bands and a sumptuous banquet at Windsor Castle.<\/p>\n

\u201cPresident Trump has always had great respect for King Charles, and their relationship was further strengthened by the president\u2019s historic visit to the United Kingdom last year,\u201d White House spokesperson Anna Kelly told The Associated Press. \u201cThe president looks forward to a special visit by Their Majesties, which will include a beautiful state dinner and multiple events throughout the week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump, meanwhile, told the BBC that the king\u2019s visit could \u201cabsolutely\u201d help repair the trans-Atlantic relationship.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s fantastic. He\u2019s a fantastic man. Absolutely the answer is yes,\u201d the president said.<\/p>\n

Some have called for the trip to be canceled<\/p>\n

Kristofer Allerfeldt, a University of Exeter professor specializing in American history, said the two governments have very different objectives for the trip.<\/p>\n

He said that for Charles, the trip is about \u201creinforcing long-term ties, showcasing the monarchy\u2019s soft power and reminding the world that Britain still carries diplomatic weight.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Trump, it\u2019s more about \u201ca media event,\u201d with emphasis on the optics of a visit that resembles a meeting of \u201ctwo gilded monarchs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some U.K. politicians worry that the trip is fraught with opportunities for embarrassment. Trump\u2019s recent broadsides at Pope Leo XIV have heightened those concerns.<\/p>\n

Ed Davey, leader of the U.K. centrist opposition Liberal Democrats party, earlier this month called Trump \u201ca dangerous and corrupt gangster\u201d and implored the government to cancel the trip.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really fear for what Trump might say or do while our king is forced to stand by his side,\u201d Davey said in the House of Commons. \u201cWe cannot put His Majesty in that position.\u201d<\/p>\n

Starmer defended the visit, saying \u201cthe monarchy, through the bonds that it builds, is often able to reach through the decades\u201d and bolster important relationships.<\/p>\n

Andrew and Epstein cast a shadow<\/p>\n

Raising the stakes is the shadow of the king\u2019s younger brother Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, who has been stripped of his royal title of Prince Andrew, exiled from public life and put under police investigation over his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein. He has denied committing any crimes.<\/p>\n

Epstein victims have urged the king to meet with them and other sexual abuse survivors. It\u2019s unlikely he will do so.<\/p>\n

Charles has visited the U.S. 19 times, but this is his first state visit to the country since becoming king in 2022. His mother, Queen Elizabeth II, made four state visits to the U.S.<\/p>\n

The king, who is 77 and was diagnosed in early 2024 with an undisclosed form of cancer, will spend four days in the U.S. accompanied by Queen Camilla.<\/p>\n

In Washington, the king and queen will have a private tea with the Trumps and attend a garden party and a formal White House state dinner. The president and the king will also have a one-on-one meeting.<\/p>\n

The royal couple will also visit the Sept. 11 memorial in New York and attend a 250th birthday block party in Virginia, where Charles will also meet Indigenous leaders involved in nature conservation \u2014 a favorite cause of the environmentalist king.<\/p>\n

Three centuries after Britain\u2019s kings and queens gave up any real political power, the royals remain symbols of soft power, deployed by elected governments to smooth international relationships and send messages about what the U.K. considers important.<\/p>\n

A key moment will be the king\u2019s speech to the U.S. Congress on Tuesday. It\u2019s only the second time, after Queen Elizabeth II in 1991, that a U.K. monarch has addressed a joint meeting of both houses.<\/p>\n

Elizabeth praised liberalism on that trip, spoke against the idea that \u201cpower grows from the barrel of a gun\u201d and praised the \u201crich ethnic and cultural diversity of both our societies.\u201d<\/p>\n

The king\u2019s treasured causes, including the environment and harmony among religious faiths, are in contrast to Trump\u2019s. He\u2019s unlikely to accentuate differences, but Allerfeldt said that, in the monarch\u2019s subtle way, the king could use his speech to send a message.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe does have an unorthodox way of looking at the world, and I think maybe he can actually have something valid to say when he addresses Congress,\u201d Allerfeldt said.<\/p>\n

Superville and Lawless write for the Associated Press. Jill Lawless reported from London. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Two and a half centuries after the American colonies declared independence from Britain under King George III, his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23503,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[13,10583,10295,10585,1449,10581,7942,4367,10584,1403,10299,4373,5318,5,6,10582,6252],"class_list":{"0":"post-23502","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uk","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-british-monarch","10":"tag-charles","11":"tag-four-day-state-visit","12":"tag-iran-war","13":"tag-king","14":"tag-leader","15":"tag-president-trump","16":"tag-recent-week","17":"tag-soft-power","18":"tag-trip","19":"tag-u-k-government","20":"tag-u-s","21":"tag-uk","22":"tag-united-kingdom","23":"tag-visit","24":"tag-washington"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116478270678647954","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23502"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23502\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}