King Charles III will not cancel his state visit to the United States to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., after a suspected gunman attempted to storm the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner with Trump in attendance inside a hotel on April 25.
“Following discussions on both sides of the Atlantic through the day, and acting on advice of government, we can confirm the state visit by their majesties will proceed as planned,” a Buckingham Palace spokesperson said in a statement on April 26.
Saturday night’s incident inside the Washington Hilton allegedly has palace officials making small operational changes to a couple of engagements for what will be the king’s first trip to the United States since taking over the throne in the UK in 2022.
Charles and his wife, Queen Consort Camilla, separately contacted Trump and the first lady to express their sympathies about the unexpected shooting during the highly anticipated event.
“The king and queen are most grateful to all those who have worked at pace to ensure this remains the case and are looking forward to the visit getting underway tomorrow,” the spokesperson said.
The four-day state visit will be from April 27 through April 30.
Monday will kick off with Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump having tea in the green room with the royals before they embark on a tour of the expanded White House Beehive in the South Lawn, according to a schedule shared by the Trump administration.
Buckingham Palace said the trip is to “celebrate the historic connections and the modern bilateral relationship between the United Kingdom and the United States, marking the 250th anniversary of American Independence.”
Security concerns will be top of mind as high-ranking members of the Trump administration once again gather in Washington ahead of Tuesday’s state dinner.
But unlike the incident at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, the high-profile state dinner will happen on White House grounds, in the East Room, as opposed to the Washington Hilton, which was open and operating as a hotel at the time of the shooting.
Trump expressed his belief that the suspect, Cole Allen, was a lone wolf as law enforcement worked to investigate a motive.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche suspected that the California resident “set out to target folks that work in the administration, including the president.”
The 31-year-old suspect was seen on surveillance video sprinting past Secret Service agents inside the security perimeter of the Washington Hilton before he was taken into custody.
The part-time teacher and amateur video game developer accused of trying to bombard Saturday night’s dinner will be arraigned on Monday.
Reuters contributed to this report.
Friends Read Free
Copy
Facebook
Tweet
