Amid tensions on both sides of the Atlantic, it's hoped that King Charles can help "lower the temperature"
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NEED TO KNOW
- King Charles is embarking on his “most high-stakes overseas visit” of his reign with his trip to the United States this week
- Amid political strains over Iran and NATO, the monarch is expected to help smooth relations
- The royal couple will be hosted by President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump for a series of White House events, including a state dinner
When President Donald Trump praised King Charles as “fantastic,” calling him a “brave” and “great” man, and agreeing that his state visit this week could ease strained relations between the United States and the United Kingdom, it would have been a relief to many watching in the days leading up to the historic trip.
For many observers, the next four days in the U.S. will be a huge test for American-Anglo relations — and for King Charles’ role in representing his country while staying out of the controversies and politics of the time.
Since President Trump was hosted at Windsor Castle with first lady Melania Trump in September, the world seems to have shifted dramatically. The U.S. president has taken issue with the U.K.’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer over everything from solidarity with America over Iran to immigration and regularly questions the future of the Atlantic alliance.
“This is the most high-stakes overseas visit of King Charles' reign, as London and Washington are at odds over everything from the wars in Iran and Ukraine to tariffs and the future of NATO,” former BBC anchor Laura Trevelyan tells PEOPLE. “The trip will be both a test and a showcase of the King’s considerable diplomatic skills and his reputation as a Trump whisperer.”
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The visit of King Charles, 77, with Queen Camilla, 78, comes only days after a gunman stormed the White House Correspondents Dinner that the president was attending. The royal couple was in touch with the president and first lady following the shooting, and after talks throughout the weekend, it was decided that the four-day visit would proceed as planned.
The visit is tied to the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence from the United Kingdom, and a chance, the British ambassador Sir Christian Turner said, "to recognize and celebrate that our partnership ranges well beyond the government of the day. It's about the cultural, historical, economic, people-to-people links that really bind our two countries together.”
Those connections, he said, are built on the "foundations of friendship, shared history, shared sacrifice and common values."
But there is no doubt that the strained political relations have been dominating headlines and focus in the run-up to the state visit.
Seasoned royal writer Robert Jobson, author of Windsor Legacy, says, “This is the most important summit for the so-called special relationship since George VI and President Roosevelt [when they shared hot dogs] in 1939, and George wanted to rally the U.S. to help in the war. Today, we live in troubled times.”
Put simply, “There's never been a time, and there's been such instability on each side of the Atlantic," says Sally Bedell Smith, longtime chronicler of the Windsors and author of Royals Extra Substack. "That is both in the presidency and this war we're engaged in, and at the same time, this uncertainty about the future of Britain's leadership.”
That said, Trump has said how much he admires the King, and that affection was on show when he and the first lady visited with them at Windsor, and then in his interview with the BBC last week, when he called the monarch a "brave man."
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King Charles is in a unique position of being above those politics in the U.K. while also bringing with him decades of experience in tours and visits like this and in promoting the best of his country. Palace insiders recognize the visit is taking place in challenging times, but it is also an opportunity to re-establish and cement the links and commonalities between the two countries in the year of the 250th birthday celebrations. “You couldn’t pick anyone better to do this job,” Jobson says.
Adds Ailsa Anderson, a former press secretary for King Charles' late mother, Queen Elizabeth: “He is our ambassador-in-chief. He has been doing this as Prince of Wales and now King for many, many years."
King Charles is following in the footsteps of his late mother in being only the second-ever British monarch to address a joint meeting of Congress. She made that speech in 1991 on one of her four state visits to the United States. He “can pay tribute to the two nations’ historical ties, compliment America on its 250th birthday and remind the world of how the two countries fought on the same side in two world wars. But how much can he say about the present?” Trevelyan, who is host of The Exchange on the Noosphere platform, adds.
That historical backdrop would “remind President Trump and the world of the enduring ties between the two nations” and “lower the temperature,” Trevelyan observes. “With his very presence in America, the King will seek to convey a reassuring sense of history and tradition which rises above this fraught political moment.”
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Away from D.C., the King and Queen hope to strengthen and broaden the links between the people of the U.S. and U.K. as they undertake engagements in New York and Virginia, focused on some of their key causes and cultural links between the countries.
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