The King’s “high stakes” visit to the US this week was high risk but also a “phenomenal opportunity”, according to senior palace staff, as they reflect on perhaps the biggest week of Charles III’s reign so far.
Buckingham Palace says the face-to-face meetings with Donald Trump were a chance for the most senior royals to showcase the depth of the transatlantic relationship without the “noise” of recent events.
King Charles and Queen Camilla arrived in Washington on Monday with the US-UK relationship under severe strain following the war in Iran.
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But they left the US on good terms with Trump and the first lady, and their departure was followed by a boost to the Scottish whisky industry when the president lifted tariffs on imports.
The King’s speech to Congress, only the second time in history that a British monarch has been invited to address US lawmakers, pushed back on many of the criticisms Donald Trump had levelled at the UK in the recent weeks.
But it was decided the King had the authority, experience, and enough goodwill with the president to deliver it.
Charles delivered hard-hitting messages on issues like Ukraine, Nato and Afghanistan, among others Credit: PA
“It was a high stakes address to Congress,” said a palace source involved in the speech. “It’s a measure of how much he personally cares” about the relationship with the US, they said.
One palace official added: “What looked like risk and challenge was also a phenomenal opportunity. One that was grasped in both hands by the King and we shall leave you to conclude what the outcome of that was.”
The King’s speech did achieve what no US politician has managed in recent years – to get divided House of Representatives and the Senate to come together.
As the US marks the 250th anniversary of ejecting a British monarch after the War of Independence, it seemed most of Washington’s political elite was happy to welcome one back with open arms.
Given the significant anniversary, a senior palace source said: “The word historic is much overused and we always hesitate to use it in the palace, but I think one could use that term for this visit.”
ITV News Royal Editor Chris Ship reflects on the final day of the King and Queen’s state visit to the US
George III, who was the last King of America, is King Charles’ five-time great grandfather.
And Charles reassured Congress he hadn’t come to the US as part of some “rear-guard action”.
But he did deliver some hard-hitting messages on issues like Ukraine, Nato, Afghanistan, defence spending, melting ice caps, checks on executive power, and the need to reject the “clarion calls for nationalism”, which felt very much like a criticism of Trump’s Maga movement.
So why did they allow King Charles to deliver such a punchy speech?
A source who helped craft it with the King and the government said: “First, what the King says will always be guided by the truth.
The King made a historic address during a joint meeting of Congress during his visit Credit: PA
“Two, it will be guided by conscience. And three, they’re all observable facts. Everything that is in that speech is an observable fact. And so, I think we felt very comfortable with the King speaking as he did.”
After a tense few months for Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who’s been on the receiving end of Trump’s many tongue lashings about the UK, the palace was keen to point out the King had not been sent to the US simply to repair the relationship.
“I wouldn’t say we were there to change the relationship”, said a senior member of the King’s team, but they acknowledged the Windsors and the Trumps did get on very well.
They said: “It’s not a competition between the King and the government. The King is there to support the government, to help the government.
“It was at the government’s request, of course, that he undertook this visit. And the King and the Queen have been able to help the government in any way and to get the relationship perhaps more widely understood by a wider number of people without some of the noise of current affairs.”
As for how the King and Queen got on with the Trumps, royal sources said the relationship was as friendly in private as it appeared to be in public, however “unlikely” that might seem.
“They get on very well”, a senior source said who was closely involved in the visit, and it was not just the two heads of state.
“It’s all four of them with each other. The Queen and the president. The Queen and the first lady. The King and the first lady. The King and the president. It’s a pairing, sort of unlikely though it might be in many ways,” they said.
“The warmth that you see in public is absolutely the warmth you see in private. That meeting in the Oval Office? There was an awful lot of warmth and laughter”, said a senior member of the King’s staff.
The palace’s aim for the visit was to move the dial in the US-UK relationship Credit: PA
King Charles did not allow himself a moment of satisfaction after leaving the US at the end of the four-day visit.
He’d already opened his red boxes moments after take-off and was working on his briefing notes for his subsequent visit to Bermuda.
“He’s not a man to dwell long on what some may consider yesterday’s successes, he is always looking towards tomorrow’s opportunities, so generally we’ve tried to encourage him to feel positive – and he has, about the way that the American leg has gone in particular.”
The palace’s aim for the state visit was to move the dial in the US-UK relationship and even a marginal improvement would have been considered a success.
However, the palace source added: “We will sit on the plane and think that was a week well spent.”
This is the Talking Royals – our weekly podcast about the Royal Family, with ITV News Royal Editor Chris Ship and Producer Lizzie Robinson.