Days after a shooting that apparently targeted President Donald Trump’s administration and sparking new concerns about security in the country’s capital, King Charles III was scheduled to undertake an unusual state visit yesterday that promised to confront the president’s admiration for British royalty with his fury against the British government.
The long-planned meeting aims to showcase the close Anglo-American relations 250 years after the Declaration of Independence. But it comes amid one of the most heated disputes between Washington and London in generations, as Trump and Prime Minister Keir Starmer clash over the president’s war on Iran and whether either side wants to maintain the close cooperation of the past.
Preparations for the event were overshadowed over Saturday’s shooting at the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner, which forced the evacuation of Trump, most of his cabinet and hundreds of journalists, officials and celebrities. On Sunday, Buckingham Palace confirmed in a statement that the king and Queen Camilla would go ahead with their visit. The royal tour is scheduled to last four days, but authorities re-evaluated it in the wake of Saturday’s shooting. “The king and queen are very grateful to all those who have worked diligently to ensure this remains the case and look forward to the visit beginning tomorrow,” the statement said.
British officials hope the monarch can paper over tensions between Washington and London with some pomp, using his royal mystique to remind Trump of the advantages of staying close to the kingdom, his mother’s birthplace. ANDThe king does not explicitly participate in politics or grant interviewsa level of discretion that impressed some White House officials as they prepared for the meeting on behalf of a president who routinely takes calls from reporters on his cell phone. Trump has sharply criticized Starmer for his reluctance to support the war and for Britain’s initial ban on American planes using its air bases to attack Iran.
It has marked a clear difference between the king and his prime minister. “I look forward to dinner,” Trump said last week, referring to the king as “a friend of mine.” “We are really looking forward to it, we have already talked and we are going to have a great time,” he said. By contrast, the president said of Starmer last month: “We are not dealing with Winston Churchill.” Britain, he claimed, was no longer “the Rolls-Royce of the allies.” According to British officials, at the start of the war their hands were tied by laws prohibiting pre-emptive strikes, but they were allowed to provide aid after Iran retaliated. Many British policymakers remain skeptical of the war and are frustrated by the resulting rise in energy prices.
The war is extremely unpopular among the British population, and the country’s economy has been severely damaged by inflation resulting from the conflict and instability in financial markets. But the British government hopes the visit will be a chance to make a fresh start with a king who stands above politics, a symbol of his nation who is unaccountable to any voter. “Despite our small disagreement in 1776 and the fact that we burned down the White House – I think only once – it has become one of the most enduring alliances in history,” said British ambassador Christian Turner, who will accompany the monarch during the visit.
The trip includes a reception in the gardens of the embassy’s grand residencer in Washington, a visit to the Oval Office and a state dinner at the White House. Charles III will address a joint session of Congress, the second British monarch to do so after his mother in 1991. British leaders are both grateful for Charles III’s goodwill toward Trump — and the president’s boundless admiration for the king — and worried about what the president might say while at their side. Trump’s relationship with Starmer has gone from cordial to since the start of the war on February 28.
Last year, duringThe president’s state visit to Windsor Castle in SeptemberTrump called Starmer “a very good man” and praised what he described as the strong bond between the two countries. It was the reward for what seemed like a winning strategy. From the beginning of Trump’s second term, Starmer had espoused a policy of disciplined deference: He criticized White House policies, but never the man in the Oval Office, brushing off ridicule and courting goodwill. For the first 14 months, it worked. When Trump imposed 10% tariffs on most of Europe, Britain negotiated a more favorable bilateral deal, winning major concessions in the auto, steel and aerospace sectors.
Despite our minor disagreement in 1776 and the fact that we burned down the White House—only once, I think—it has become one of the most enduring alliances in history.
But Starmer’s game, whether checkers or four-dimensional chess, was always against a president who sometimes completely changed the course of the board. With the war against Iran, goodwill disappeared. In London, the decision to go ahead with the visit has generated mixed opinions. Government officials say there is no advantage in snubbing the leader of Britain’s most important allyno matter how difficult the moment is. A person familiar with the deliberations, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal discussions, said Starmer’s team trusts Carlos — his instincts, forged by generations of aristocratic reserve and honed over decades of carefully moderated public speeches — to avoid making things worse, even if he cannot make them better.
“He has to go. Not going would be much worse for the relationship,” said a British official familiar with the government’s planning for the trip, who also spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the delicate preparations. “You never know what this president is going to do or say when you are next to him, but the king has a very good poker face,” the official said. The opposition is less forgiving. Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey claimed Starmer had shown a stunning lack of character by allowing the visit to go ahead, arguing this would hand Trump another major diplomatic triumph. A YouGov poll found that 48% of Britons supported canceling the visit altogether.
Furthermore, in Britain there are broader questions about the relationship with the United States. “There is a feeling in the United Kingdom that we are reversing the situation of 250 years ago, when the United States treated the United Kingdom as a colony. The British military is just an appendage of the United States,” said Fiona Hill, who advised Trump on Russia policy during his first term and has advised both the American and British governments on security matters. “Unfortunately, there is some truth in that, in the way the British military has been structured,” which has been to support American military operations abroad rather than looking after British sovereign interests, Hill said, noting that there is now a movement away from that dynamic.
Despite all the frustration, he said, Charles still has a chance to capitalize on Trump’s leniency toward him. Trump likes to boast that “he has a great personal relationship with Putin and Xi,” Hill said, referring to the leaders of Russia and China. “But Charles is in a league of his own, even for them. Yes, they have power and money, but King Charles has a prestige that none of them possess, and that Trump would love to have, but hasn’t.” The visit comes at a time when both Trump and Starmer are struggling in opinion polls, for similar reasons.
Starmer faces a weak economy, a feeling that he has failed to excite Britons about his future, and a growing scandal over the links his first candidate for ambassador to Washington, Peter Mandelson, had with Jeffrey Epstein, the late financier and sex offender. Ironically, the crisis with Iran has helped consolidate Starmer’s position. By refusing to give in to Trump’s demand to send ships to the Strait of Hormuz, he presented himself as the statesman who kept Britain out of an unpopular war.
The leader of the United Kingdom Reform Party, Nigel Farage, and the Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, have had to back down after initially applauding Trump’s military campaign. However, the Mandelson affair is causing him increasing damage. The prime minister has had to answer questions about the now-ousted ambassador’s security clearance, and his defense — who knew nothing about Mandelson’s initial refusal to obtain security clearance — has fueled voters’ perceptions that he does not have firm control over his government.
The king will also have to deal with his own family scandal in Washington. Charles is reluctant to meet with victims linked to Epstein, whose ties to the king’s younger brother, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, have caused a stir in the royal family. “We strongly urge King Charles to meet with us and the survivors and listen to what we have to say,” the family of Virginia Giuffre, who committed suicide last year, wrote in an email to Washington Post earlier this month. Giuffre claimed she was forced to have sex with then-Prince Andrew on three occasions when she was 17.
Mountbatten-Windsor is being investigated by police following the allegations, and the king has stripped his brother of his royal title and evicted him from his mansion in the grounds of Windsor Castle. However, Buckingham Palace officials, citing legal restrictions arising from the criminal investigation, have indicated that the king will not meet the families. Queen Camilla, who regularly speaks out against sexual violence and domestic abuse, is expected to meet activists to address these issues during her visit.