Amid political tensions, King Charles will be in a 'delicate diplomatic situation' during U.S. state visit

Janet Davison 

It had long been rumoured that King Charles would make a state visit to the U.S. this spring. President Donald Trump — known for his admiration of royalty — kept mentioning the trip was in the works, too.

So when the official announcement came from Buckingham Palace a few days ago that Charles is indeed bound for the U.S. in late April, it didn't come as much of a surprise.

Still, the timing of the trip has sparked controversy and questions — particularly given the ongoing U.S.-Israel war against Iran, the geopolitical turmoil it has caused and the current strain in the relationship between the U.K. and the U.S.

"It's a very politically tense time period for King Charles III and Queen Camilla to be visiting the United States," Toronto-based royal author and historian Carolyn Harris said in an interview.

Trump's repeated criticisms, denigrations and dismissive outbursts have targeted everything from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer himself — he's "no Winston Churchill" — to the U.K.'s armed forces and what the U.S. president thinks the country should do about its oil supply as the war in Iran rages on.

"There's been a lot of discussion here, given what's happening in Iran, given what Trump is saying about the U.K. ... whether it's appropriate for the King to go or not," Craig Prescott, a constitutional expert and lecturer in law at Royal Holloway, University of London, said in an interview.

Indeed, veteran broadcaster David Dimbleby was on the BBC this week, saying it's a "misuse of the King" and "a bad political moment" to send Trump "the present of the King, with all the panoply that involves."

Still, as the official announcement from the palace noted, "on the advice of His Majesty's government," the visit is going ahead, even as other efforts by Starmer to curry favour with the U.S. could be seen as having less-than-stellar results.

"You might think that Starmer's schmoozing strategy in a sense has perhaps failed, but there seems to be a decision made by the U.K. government that although Trump is doing all this, it's still in Britain's interest to remain close with the United States," Prescott said. "It's still in Britain's interest not to be confrontational with Trump, that the U.K.'s relationship with the U.S. perhaps goes deeper than any one particular president."

The visit is billed as part of efforts to commemorate the 250th anniversary of American independence and is expected to be — as far as such events go — relatively short. (While Buckingham Palace hasn't confirmed the dates, Trump said it will take place from April 27 to 30, and Charles has been invited to speak to the U.S. Congress on April 28.)

Trump, for his part, is eagerly anticipating the visit.

"I look forward to spending time with the King, whom I greatly respect,'' the president said on his Truth Social platform. "It will be TERRIFIC!"

 
U.S. President Donald Trump was greeted by King Charles and Queen Camilla outside Windsor Castle, but protests in the U.K. continued as many object to the state visit.

For Charles, there is something of a diplomatic tightrope to walk.

"It's a very delicate diplomatic situation for King Charles III. He will have to be very careful to remain above politics and to remain neutral if he is placed in any awkward circumstances," Harris said.

The upcoming trip follows Trump's visit to the U.K. last September and presents more challenges, Prescott said, than that visit a few months ago, when, as host, Charles and the U.K. were more in control.

The greatest risk for the U.K. government, Prescott said, is that "Trump says something enormously disobliging about the U.K. or the Royal Navy. Or he makes a quip, like he does, about the Royal Navy not having any ships or something ... because the King is commander-in-chief, and how the King would manage that in response would be very difficult, because we don't expect our King to be necessarily spontaneous in that way."

Prescott will be watching in particular for the reception Charles receives, what he says in his speeches — which have "substantive content" in contexts such as this — and his rapport with Trump.

"It's always the slightly less-rehearsed moments that … capture things."

Previous state visits to the U.S. by monarchs, such as King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, have been preceded or followed by a visit to Canada, but that is not happening this time.

"In the current context ... it's important to emphasize that King Charles III is visiting the United States in his capacity as King of the United Kingdom," Harris said.

"If he were visiting as King of Canada, there would be an expectation that Canadian interests be represented, the Canadian ministers would be present, and that would complicate a very short visit intended to reciprocate President Trump's visit to the United Kingdom and to mark this very particular anniversary of the 250th anniversary of independence."

Charles will follow his time in the U.S. with his first visit as monarch to Bermuda.

"Going over to Washington, it makes sense to try and do something else in the region more often than not," Prescott said. "And Bermuda is a perfectly reasonable choice, I think, as a British Overseas Territory."

Prince William and his faith

For a while now, there have been questions about Prince William, his faith and his dedication to the Church of England, particularly since he's not known as much of a church-goer and, as heir to the throne, he will one day become its supreme governor.

So it was notable the other day, ahead of his attendance at the installation of the new archbishop of Canterbury, that the Sunday Times published a report under the headline "Prince William confirms 'quiet faith' and new commitment to church."

That he would attend the installation of Sarah Mullally wasn't a surprise in and of itself.

"It is protocol that the heir to the throne goes rather than the King," Prescott said.

What was interesting, he said, was the article in the Sunday Times.

"That is clearly addressing some concerns that have been had in the past about whether William is serious about that role, being supreme governor of the Church of England, because he doesn't attend church, he doesn't really talk about God as such, unlike Elizabeth II, say, or the King as Prince Charles, who has taken a very strong interest in religion."

According to a source close to William quoted in the Times piece, "his feeling is, 'I might not be at church every day but I believe in it, I want to support it and this is an important aspect of my role and the next role and I will take it very seriously, in my own way.'"

In addition to attending Mullally's installation, William and Catherine, Princess of Wales, met with her earlier in the year.

"We're seeing with a new archbishop of Canterbury that there's a very strong working relationship with William and Catherine from the beginning," Harris said.

"There had been a lot of scrutiny of the previous archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and his relationship with the Royal Family, as he was perceived at one time to be quite close to Harry and Meghan."

Welby had to affirm, Harris noted, that he had not privately married the couple before their official wedding took place, as they had said in their 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey.

"That closeness with Harry and Meghan seems to have waned over time," Harris said. "But the previous archbishop of Canterbury had become associated in the popular imagination with Harry and Meghan and the circumstances surrounding their wedding."

An unexpected meeting with a prince 

For a week, Melanie Redman had to keep a royal secret.

The Toronto-based co-founder, president and CEO of A Way Home Canada, a national coalition working to prevent and end youth homelessness, was in the United Kingdom on business.

While there, she knew she would be going to a meeting of international representatives gathered to see work by Prince William's Royal Foundation to fight homelessness. There was no expectation she'd actually meet the Prince of Wales.

But a week before the recent meeting in the coastal town of Bournemouth, in southern England, she learned William would be there.

"We were sworn to secrecy that we were going to be meeting with the prince," Redman said in an interview.

"It was hard, especially because … people here in Canada … feel differently about the Royal Family depending on who you ask. But I have a large number of people who are true royalists on my team … who I knew would just be so thrilled to know that this was happening."

Redman — who found herself doing a fast wardrobe upgrade from the "business casual" clothes she had brought with her to something more "elegant" for meeting a member of the Royal Family — spoke with William for about five to seven minutes.

"In my conversations with him, he wanted to talk about what I think about the potential for artificial intelligence in contributing to some of our solutions to homelessness."

Redman found William to be "very smart" and well prepared.

"I got to overhear several of his conversations with the international delegation, and he does his homework."

A Way Home Canada has had a strong focus on working with community partners and seeking ways to prevent youth homelessness.

"We were able to, over the last 10 years, build a pretty good evidence base that prevention gets better outcomes for young people and their families and it's cheaper," Redman said. "We have all of this knowledge and … we do a lot of international learning exchange."

Some of that exchange, for more than two years, has been with the Royal Foundation of the Prince and Princess of Wales.

In Bournemouth, Redman and members of delegations from Australia, Belgium, the Netherlands and Finland also had a chance to take part in a roundtable with William regarding an early-intervention school-based initiative, Upstream, which aims to help identify students who may be at risk of homelessness.

"He had lots of great questions and insights … things to think about," Redman said. "It's not just … rubber-stamping with the Royal Foundation name. He's really involved."

Redman sees the involvement of a member of the Royal Family in efforts to fight homelessness as "really helpful."

"People get attached to issues that are a lot more … sexy in nature than homelessness. And I really feel like there's a fatigue around homelessness because it's not getting better — it's growing," she said.

There's value in "having some prominent celebrities who can bring together partners in new ways, bring … the unusual suspects to the table … people that haven't been there before … banks, foundations, construction companies, developers," Redman said.

"[William] has a real convening power that the rest of us … wouldn't have to that degree at all."

A Way Home Canada will continue to share information back and forth with the Royal Foundation and help with training for Upstream.

"We have paying contracts to deliver quality training and technical assistance to their service providers that will be delivering Upstream with the Royal Foundation. So it's a real give-and-take," Redman said.

"The relationship with the Royal Foundation and their brilliant team is ongoing. They're people I can text, and we're all trying to move mountains. And it's best if we do it with hive brain instead of in isolation."

Getting together — or not — with the family at Easter

Royal Family occasions often bring curiosity and scrutiny — who's there, who isn't and what might that mean?

As Easter approached this year, there was much media attention on the fact that royal sources recently shared word that Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, the daughters of former prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, won't be at the Royal Family's Easter Sunday service at Windsor Castle.

"In the present circumstances, clearly you would be surprised if they were there," Prescott said.

Those "present circumstances" flow from the ongoing scandal around their father and the continued fallout from his relationship with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

"There has been discussion about the rest of the Royal Family just distancing themselves from Beatrice and Eugenie, at least for the time being. How fair that is is an open question," Prescott said.

Prince William and Catherine, who weren't at the Easter service last year, are expected there on Sunday.

"It's very much in the theme of William's 'quiet faith' becoming known to the public that we are seeing William and Catherine present at Easter," Harris said.

In other pre-Easter comings and goings, King Charles and Queen Camilla were in northern Wales on Thursday for the traditional Maundy service. It was the first time it has been held in Wales since 1982 — and the second time in its history.

"We've seen a reinforcement of the monarchy's connections with Wales," Harris said, noting William and Catherine gave greetings in Welsh for St. David's Day recently, and William has said he's brushing up on his Welsh.

Outside the Maundy service, the anti-monarchy group Republic continued its calls for Charles to answer questions about his involvement in the scandal around Andrew.

"Charles shouldn't be able to avoid questions about his complicity in the Andrew scandal," Republic CEO Graham Smith said in a media release.

"It's not credible to believe Charles and William weren't aware of the allegations against Andrew years ago. Which begs the question: Why didn't they act years ago?"

Royally quotable

"In this historic moment, you stand as a bridge between nations and generations, and I commend you for the courage, discipline and vision that have brought you to this threshold."

— King Charles, in a letter to Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen ahead of the launch on Wednesday of the Artemis II mission around the moon.

In a post on the Canadian Space Agency's X account, Hansen said: "I was deeply touched to receive this message, which honours the collective vision and dedication behind this historic moment." 

King Charles III sent a letter to @Astro_Jeremy to acknowledge Canada’s role in the Artemis II mission.

“I was deeply touched to receive this message, which honours the collective vision and dedication behind this historic moment.” — Jeremy Hansen pic.twitter.com/r1XKvCv2xB

— Canadian Space Agency (@csa_asc) April 1, 2026