King Charles and US President Donald Trump during last year’s state visit (Image: AFP via Getty Images)
King Charles steps into the eye of the storm this week and he’s got his work cut out.
The monarch and Queen Camilla are in Washington for a four-day state visit as guests of President Donald Trump.
It is fair to say – after some caustic comments directed at Britain – the special relationship is not what it once was.
So Charles will embark on what amounts to a diplomatic mission with the words of his late mother – a woman Mr Trump was known to admire – ringing in his ears.
As America flexes its muscles across the world, the soft power and influence that Charles wields could not be more at odds with the brash and bombastic approach of braggart Mr Trump.
It makes the state visit – officially being staged to mark the 250th anniversary of American independence – arguably the most significant foreign trip of recent times.
Last week, in a video address to mark what would have been his late mother Queen Elizabeth’s 100th birthday, Charles said her hope was “to make the world of tomorrow a better and happier place”.
He said his mother, who died in September 2022 aged 96 , would be “troubled by the times we now live in”.
The late Queen rarely uttered a controversial opinion in public, or strayed into politics, but many believe it was a reference, at least in part, to Mr Trump.
The President’s views on Labour, Sir Keir Stamrer and London Mayor Sadiq Khan specifically, and the demise of Britain more generally, provide an intriguing backdrop to the visit.
Donald Trump and King Charles have lots to discuss (Image: PA)
Charles said: “Much about the times we now live in I suspect may have troubled her deeply, but I take heart from her belief that goodness will always prevail and that a brighter dawn is never far from the horizon.”
He recalled his mother’s hopeful words in her first-ever public broadcast aged just 14 in 1940 during the dark days of the Second Wold War as she said: “We can each play our part to make the world of tomorrow a better and happier place.”
Many are banking on Charles to do just that himself and squeeze every last drop of influence in an attempt to rein Mr Trump in.
His job is no small task – and he’ll need to show through a mix of flattery and gentle persuasion that he’s got the kind of hypnotic hold on Trump that his mother clearly had.
US-UK relations now stand at an all-time low after a string of deeply damaging political rows involving the Falkland Islands, conflict in the Middle East, and the Chagos Islands, all centered on Britain’s military impotence.
Charles’s brief is clear: stabilise the fractured bilateral relationship and pour oil on troubled waters.
His task is to reset diplomatic relations by pressing the flesh.
Mr Trump’s derision of the Government stands in contrast to his warm affection for the Royal Family.
The president has been scornful of Sir Keir and what he sees as his domestic and international irrelevance.
He has repeatedly chastised the prime minister over Britain’s neutrality in the US-led Iran war, the parlous state of the UK Armed Forces, and in a deeply cutting jibe referred to him as “no Winston Churchill”.
Earlier this month Sir Keir, in a rare flash of emotion, said he was “fed up” with being the butt of Mr Trump’s chides.
The President has been afforded two state visits: the first at Buckingham Palace with the late Queen during in 2019 held during his first term in the White House and the second at Windsor Castle with Charles.
This week’s return fixture represents an opportunity for him to bask in the glorly of having King Charles, still widely revered across the world, come to stay.
It’s positive publicity money cannot buy. But Charles needs to make the visit pay.