{"id":423088,"date":"2026-04-29T08:01:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T08:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/423088\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T08:01:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T08:01:09","slug":"charles-gives-slyly-provocative-speech-to-congress-amid-bipartisan-applause-and-laughter-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/423088\/","title":{"rendered":"Charles gives slyly provocative speech to Congress amid bipartisan applause and laughter \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

You only have to look at the photographs of the younger Charles Windsor<\/a>, rose-cheeked and gauche as he sits beside Richard Nixon<\/a> in the Oval Office, or the still-startling image of the late Diana, princess of Wales, dancing with Danny Zuko himself in the Reagan White House of the mid-1980s to realise for just how long the British monarch has been out there representing the firm on the world stage.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, king Charles III stood before a joint meeting of Congress to give what was billed as the most consequential speech since he assumed the throne. It took place against a background of president Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s hectoring and second-hand insults of Britain\u2019s prime minister, Keir Starmer<\/a>, and during an era when Britain is struggling to adapt to a diminishing role and voice in world affairs. <\/p>\n

The event was overshadowed by the leaked, recorded remarks of Britain\u2019s ambassador to the US, Christian Turner, who, commenting on the \u201cspecial relationship\u201d conceit framed by Winston Churchill, pointed out that \u201cit\u2019s quite nostalgic, it\u2019s quite backwards-looking, and it has a lot of sort of baggage about it.\u201d He then added the headline-grabbing afterthought: \u201cI think there is probably one country that has a special relationship with the United States \u2013 and that is probably Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Around the Capitol on Tuesday, many would have agreed. Charles\u2019s address was hailed as an immediate triumph even as the king and queen Camilla made their way back to prepare for a white-tie-and-tails gala dinner at the White House. <\/p>\n

But in keeping with the theme of this administration, it was a day haunted by the recollections and voices of the women trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein<\/a>, the dead sex-offender and billionaire financier who once counted both president Trump and king Charles\u2019 disgraced brother Andrew as among his friends. The survivors of Epstein\u2019s abuses gathered elsewhere in the Capitol to speak about that connection.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou would expect this to be a moment for the king to give a message to the world that he stands with survivors,\u201d said Sky Roberts, the younger brother of the late Virginia Giuffre who took her own life a year ago. Giuffre\u2019s accusations of being trafficked by Epstein and sexually abused by Andrew as a minor led to a $23 million settlement paid by the former prince – who denied the allegations – and provoked a true existential crisis for the British monarchy. \u201cWe still can\u2019t get that [message] from our own president of the United States,\u201d Roberts added.<\/p>\n

Although ambassador Turner had hinted that Charles might address the Epstein survivors in his speech, the king\u2019s acknowledgment of \u201cvictims of the some of the ills that so tragically exist in both of our societies today\u201d was carefully opaque.<\/p>\n

But his remarks on the abiding links between Britain and the United States were pointed as he engaged in a brief history lesson, telling the gathered American senators and representatives that the Declaration of Rights of 1689 provided the \u201csource of many so many of the principles reiterated often verbatim in the American Bill of Rights of 1791\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd those roots go even further back in our history: the US Supreme Court Historical Society has calculated that Magna Carta is cited in at least 160 Supreme Court cases since 1789, not least as the foundation of the principle that executive power is subject to checks and balances.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was the line that resonated most strongly, with whoops of approval from the Democratic side of the aisle. The Republicans did stand although Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary, laughed as though the king had delivered a Jimmy Tarbuck gag.<\/p>\n

\"BritishBritish king Charles and queen Camilla greet members of the Congress following the king’s address to a joint meeting of Congress. Photograph: Saul Loeb\/AFP via Getty Images <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the reason why there stands a stone, by the River Thames at Runnymede, where Magna Carta was signed in the year 1215,\u201d Charles pressed on.<\/p>\n

Judging by the murmurs and nods of approval there was clearly something irresistible about all of this to American ears \u2013 Runnymede and ye olde days. Even as Congress grapples with an administration which has vowed protectionism while embarking on imperial adventurism, the king\u2019s slyly provocative speech reminded everyone that the United States remains a shockingly young country. <\/p>\n

And at 77, Charles has acquired a kind of general affection that comes with having endured and speaks with an easy humour he lacked as a younger performer. He clearly enjoyed the warmth and frequent standing ovations here. And he succeeded in conjuring up what has, for the past decade, been a seldom heard sound: bipartisan applause \u2013 and laughter. <\/p>\n

He gave a nod to Oscar Wilde as he set the mood by quoting the Irish writer\u2019s observation that \u201cwe have everything in common with America nowadays, except, of course, language!\u201d<\/p>\n

Not everyone in the room appeared to get the joke. But it contained a truth in that both countries are engaged with internal debates and anxieties about their role on the international stage. It was bold of Charles to specifically quote Starmer\u2019s own words of last month, when the under-fire prime minister, refusing to bow to Trump\u2019s demands to join in the war with Iran, described the bond between the countries as \u201can indispensable partnership\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must not disregard everything that has sustained us for the last 80 years. Instead, we must build on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He reminded the chamber, too, that Nato had invoked Article 5 for the first time after 9\/11 and drew a thunderous ovation from the Democratic side of the room when he called for the same \u201cunyielding resolve\u201d in defence of Ukraine. <\/p>\n

And there was a powerful, understated rebuke in the halls of a Capitol where words fly hot and accusatory, in his closing passage, when he addressed speaker Mike Johnson and vice-president JD Vance, both of whom sat behind him on the dais, saying \u201cAmerica\u2019s words carry weight and meaning, as they have since the Independence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those words were of course primarily aimed at the occupant of the Oval Office. Who knew if Trump was tuning in?<\/p>\n

So it was a success for Charles after a few months during which the royal family looked shattered in the wake of the arrest and descent into disgrace of Andrew. There were some notable absentees from the occasion, including New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her colleague from California, Ro Khanna, who organised the hearing of Epstein victims.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought the king owed that to the survivors given his brother\u2019s serious allegations of abuse,\u201d Khanna said.<\/p>\n

\"KingKing Charles and president Donald Trump at a state dinner at the White House in Washington, DC. Photograph: Aaron Chown\/PA Wire <\/p>\n

Elsewhere, Trump\u2019s department of justice launched its latest set of charges against James Comey, the FBI director from his first term, while there were renewed calls from within the administration, led by first lady Melania Trump, for the television comedy host Jimmy Kimmel to be fired from the role following a Saturday night sketch that the administration described as \u201cderanged\u201d.<\/p>\n

The pace of political life in the United States moves with feverish pace in this, its 250th year. Even the king must have wondered how long his words will be remembered, or how deeply felt.<\/p>\n

The White House released a photo of Trump and Charles standing together with the caption: Two Kings. The joking, and trolling, goes on. And as they stood in tails to pose for ceremonial photographs before the state dinner, where there would be more speeches and historical references, Trump pointed at his guest and jauntily told the cameras: \u201cHe made a great speech. I was very jealous.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"You only have to look at the photographs of the younger Charles Windsor, rose-cheeked and gauche as he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":423089,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[969,42,47847,7428,43,40,38,41,39,33174],"class_list":["post-423088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-donald-trump","tag-headlines","tag-house-of-representatives","tag-king-charles","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-us-senate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=423088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423088\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/423089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=423088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=423088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=423088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}