King Charles Begins U.S. State Visit Amid Strained Transatlantic Ties

King Charles III and Queen Camilla arrive in Washington on Monday for a four-day state visit marking the 250th anniversary of American independence, at a time when relations between the U.S. and the United Kingdom are strained, CBS News, NBC News and NPR reported.

The visit runs from Monday to Thursday, CBS News reported, and includes an address to a joint meeting of Congress. NPR reported that tea at the White House is on the first day’s agenda, followed by a 21-gun salute, the address and a state banquet. The king is then scheduled to travel to New York, where NPR said he will visit the 9/11 memorial, and return to Washington on Thursday. NPR noted that only one other British monarch, his mother, has addressed Congress.

The backdrop is tense. Mr. Trump has criticized Prime Minister Keir Starmer for his response to the Iran war and has said Starmer is “no Winston Churchill,” according to NPR. NPR reported that Starmer denied the U.S. full use of British bases for offensive strikes on Iran. CBS News said Mr. Trump also dismissed Britain’s two aircraft carriers as “toys.” NBC News added, not independently confirmed here, that the president questioned the contribution of NATO soldiers in Afghanistan, where 457 British service members died, and withdrew backing for a plan to hand sovereignty of an Indian Ocean territory that hosts a joint U.S.-British base. NBC News also reported a Reuters story, which it could not confirm, about an internal Pentagon email proposing a review of the U.S. position on the Falkland Islands, and said a Starmer spokesperson called Britain’s position “longstanding” and “unchanged.”

The king, a constitutional monarch with no say in government policy, can still help, observers said. “It’s clearly one of the most controversial state visits the king will undertake in his reign,” Craig Prescott of Royal Holloway, University of London, told NBC News, which also quoted him saying the government hopes Charles will have “a quiet word in Trump’s ear.” Mr. Trump told the BBC the visit could “absolutely” help heal the relationship, NPR and NBC News reported, and NBC News said he called the king “fantastic.”

There are risks. CBS News reported that some U.S. lawmakers want the king’s brother, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly Prince Andrew, to testify to Congress about his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, which could embarrass the king in Washington. NPR said polls show most Britons do not support the trip and that a small protest took place outside Buckingham Palace.

The shooting at Saturday’s White House Correspondents’ dinner prompted a review. NPR and NBC News reported that the king and queen privately reached out to the Trumps after the shooting. NPR added that the palace, after discussions on Sunday, confirmed the visit is going ahead, with possibly minor adjustments to the agenda.