King Charles’ visit to the US comes as the special trans-Atlantic relationship sits at a critical juncture that could define cooperation between the two nations for decades
King Charles is set to play a critical role in re-setting the special relationship between the US and UK amid Donald Trump’s attacks against Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
The king and Queen Camilla are due to visit the US later this month as the country prepares for its 250th anniversary celebration on July 4. Planning for the visit has taken months and comes at a critical moment in UK-US relations.
Starmer turned on the charm with Trump, inviting him to the UK for an unprecedented second state visit in a bid to temper crippling tariff’s Washington DC imposed on its allies.
The Royal Family were deployed in the hope Trump’s fascination for British pomp could ease the tariff blow – instead the rift has appeared to grow with the US president openly mocking Starmer, branding him most recently as a Neville Chamberlain, seemingly at the behest of conservative outlets in the UK.
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Between April 27 and 30, Charles will go on the charm offensive and will aim to dazzle the president who is known to adore the Royal Family.
While some sectors in the UK have argued the visit should not go ahead, political analyst at University College Dublin’s Clinton Institute Scott Lucas said Charles could play a critical role as Starmer sets out to get the special relationship back on track.
Speaking about the upcoming visit with The Mirror, Lucas said: “I think, does two things. One is it gives you, it still carries the risk that Trump will try to manipulate this visit for PR, and we know all of that.
“And it sort of elevates the stakes because it is with a monarch. But the other thing is it gives you a little bit of cushion here. And that is, look, this is largely a ceremonial visit, the way that you could play this out. And it’s a visit which is a marker of the ties between the United States and the UK, rather than a personal tribute to Donald Trump.
“You sort of elevate this as the relationships between the countries, rather than the relationship with the Trump administration. At the same time that Charles goes across, the government therefore has a little bit of breathing space to work around that trip quietly with others in the United States.
“That is not just only the specific issues of Iran, but remember also on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which is at a key point right now. But it’s also on the wider issues of the relationships with NATO, the economic relationship.
“Because of course, there’ll be lots of American career officials who don’t want to see NATO get trashed, and who don’t want to see the economic relationship get trashed.
“So you use Charles’ visit to highlight the positive aspects of a US-UK relationship, which implicitly, you don’t say this explicitly, which is implicitly being threatened by Trump. I
” think that’s the play. Now how it works out in practice will be complicated because, you know, you rely upon Charles and the way that he handles the messaging.”
Trump has strong connections to the UK as his mum, Mary Anne MacLeod Trump, came to the US from Scotland. It is also a country where Trump has many golf courses.
In a previous statement, Buckingham Palace said: “Their Majesties’ programme will celebrate the historic connections and the modern bilateral relationship between the United Kingdom and the United States, marking the 250th anniversary of American Independence. The King will then continue to Bermuda to undertake His Majesty’s first Royal Visit as Monarch to a British Overseas Territory.”
