Opinion | King Charles Is Doing An Impossible Job In America |
Opinion | King Charles Is Doing An Impossible Job In America
Updated: Apr 28, 2026 12:26 pm IST Published On Apr 28, 2026 12:15 pm IST Last Updated On Apr 28, 2026 12:26 pm IST
Published On Apr 28, 2026 12:15 pm IST
Last Updated On Apr 28, 2026 12:26 pm IST
It's 250 years since the US dumped George III, but as his most recent successor celebrates America's Semiquincentennial in Washington DC it seems royalty is back in vogue. Monarchy-loving Donald Trump is so excited at hosting King Charles III and Queen Camilla, he's predicting their three-day junket will "absolutely" help repair the tattered special relationship, which has been plunged into the deep freeze because of Prime Minister Keir Starmer's refusal to join in the president's Iran folly.Such was the intemperance of Trump's response - describing Starmer as "not Winston Churchill," torpedoing a UK deal to return the Chagos Islands to Mauritius and threatening to hike trade tariffs - that some British politicians called for the royal visit to be cancelled.
After this weekend's alarming events at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, concerns were raised too that the king could be in physical danger from the rising tide of political violence in the US. Buckingham Palace swiftly made clear that Charles would not be deterred, although tweaks have been made to the most public-facing events in Washington and Virginia.
It's for the best that the visit is proceeding as planned.
Charles, a polite, restrained figure, will be put in an invidious position if Trump........