King Charles III will address a joint meeting of U.S. Congress and meet privately with U.S. President Donald Trump during his state visit to the United States later this month, Buckingham Palace announced Tuesday.
Between April 27 and 30, Charles and Queen Camilla will visit Washington, D.C., New York and Virginia, undertaking a variety of public engagements to mark the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence.
Their long-planned visit coincides with an unusually delicate time for the “special relationship” between the U.S. and the U.K. following weeks of Trump repeatedly attacking U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his government for not offering their full-throated support for the US offensive against Iran.
Some British lawmakers even questioned whether Charles should still go to the U.S. under such circumstances, before the palace confirmed the visit last month.
As the monarch, however, Charles is constitutionally bound to remain above politics, able only to represent the U.K. rather than speak for its government.
Rather than discussing any of the anxieties around the current state of the transatlantic alliance, the program for this state visit seeks to shore up the deep, historical links between the two countries.
As the palace put it, the visit aims to showcase “the breadth of the economic, security and cultural relationship” which has developed since the U.S. signed the Declaration of Independence.
Upon arriving in the U.S., Charles and Camilla will privately meet with Trump and First Lady Melania Trump before attending a garden party and a formal welcome ceremony, featuring a ceremonial military review, the palace said.
Charles and Trump will meet privately, as will Camilla and Melania, the palace added. Later, Charles will address a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress, becoming the second British monarch to do so, after his mother Queen Elizabeth II spoke at the U.S. Capitol in 1991.
There will also be a state dinner and a ceremony honouring fallen soldiers to “mark the military partnership between the U.K. and the U.S.,” which has come under some strain in recent weeks over the U.K.’s refusal to be further drawn into the war in Iran.
After leaving Washington, the royal couple will travel to New York where they will commemorate those killed on 9/11 and meet with an organization working with young people “affected by food insecurity through a sustainable urban farming after-school initiative.”
They will also attend events seeking to highlight the cultural and economic links between the U.S. and U.K., including one celebrating both countries’ literary heritage.
And in Virginia, the couple will meet with some of the area’s Indigenous communities and conservation groups. They will then head to Bermuda, a British overseas territory in the north Atlantic Ocean, for a two-day visit.
