Britain’s King Charles III will make a planned state visit to the United States to see President Donald Trump despite tensions over the ongoing war in the Middle East. He will be joined by his wife, Queen Camilla.
The historic royal trip will take place April 27–30, although there have been calls for it to be postponed following Washington’s criticism of the UK over its refusal to help the U.S.–Israeli military campaign in Iran.
Trump, in a Truth Social post, said the trip will be “TERRIFIC!” and a “momentous occasion,” adding there will be “a beautiful Banquet Dinner” at the White House on the evening of April 28.
Buckingham Palace did not release the exact dates in its own official announcement, but Trump said it would take place over four days from April 27 to April 30.
“I look forward to spending time with the King, whom I greatly respect,” Trump wrote on March 31. “It will be TERRIFIC!”
Trump has accused British Prime Minister Keir Starmer of jeopardizing the “special relationship” between the United States and the UK with his decision not to provide British troops in the war or to allow the use of British bases in the operation.
The official announcement from Buckingham Palace came less than an hour after Trump wrote on Truth Social that the UK should have helped the United States secure the Strait of Hormuz, adding that it should “go get your own oil.”
Last Royal Visit Was 2007
It will be the King’s first visit to the United States since he became monarch in 2022 and the first state visit by a British sovereign to America for almost 20 years, since his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, visited in 2007.
State visits are undertaken on “the advice of His Majesty’s Government,” a fact with which the Palace began its official statement announcing the visit.
During their tour, Charles and Camilla will commemorate the 250th anniversary of American independence and attend a state banquet at the White House, while the king will address Congress, Buckingham Palace confirmed.
The opposition party leader of the Liberal Democrats, Sir Ed Davey, criticized the decision to continue with the trip, and accused Starmer of showing a “staggering lack of backbone” over Trump’s recent remarks about the UK.
Trump called the UK’s approach to the Iran war “terrible” and has contrasted Starmer with Britain’s World War II leader, describing him as “not Winston Churchill.”
Davey said: “The Prime Minister is showing a staggering lack of backbone by pushing ahead with this state visit while Donald Trump treats our country with contempt.
“To send the King on a state visit to the US after Trump dismissed our Royal Navy as toys is a humiliation, and a sign of a government too weak to stand up to bullies.”
Day-by-day details of the program have yet to be disclosed, but after the tour, Charles will stop off in Bermuda, without Camilla, for his first royal visit as monarch to a British Overseas Territory.
U.S. ambassador to the UK Warren Stephens said the King had been invited to address both Houses of Congress during his stay.
The late Queen Elizabeth II became the first British monarch to address Congress in 1991 when she attended a joint session in the Capitol building during her state visit in the aftermath of the Gulf War.
‘Meaningful Trip’
Stephens said it would be a “very big mistake” to postpone the visit, adding it would be a “very meaningful trip” for the King.
Buckingham Palace said in its announcement: “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.”
Trump hailed Charles as a “great gentleman and a great King” during his stay last September at Windsor Castle, just outside of London. This was his second state visit to the UK, which is unprecedented for a U.S. leader.
The president’s first state visit to the UK took place in 2019 during his first term in office, when he was hosted by Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace.
The King’s youngest son, Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, lives in California with his wife, Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, and Charles’s youngest grandchildren Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
It is not known whether Charles will visit his younger son, with whom he has a strained relationship, while he is in the United States in April.
Charles, who is still being treated for cancer, and Harry last met face to face six months ago. The King has not seen Archie and Lili in person for almost four years. The children were last in the UK, along with their mother, at Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June 2022.
PA Media contributed to this report.
Correction: A previous version of this article misspelled the name of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer due to an editing error. The Epoch Times regrets the error.
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