King Charles to meet Trump in April State Visit to U.S.

By Kazeem Ugbodaga

Buckingham Palace has confirmed that King Charles III and Queen Camilla will undertake a state visit to the United States in late April, a high-stakes diplomatic mission aimed at repairing relations with President Donald Trump amid deepening tensions over the Iran war .

The visit, the first state trip by a British monarch to the U.S. since Queen Elizabeth II’s 2007 tour, comes as the White House and Downing Street remain publicly at odds over Britain’s refusal to join offensive operations in the Middle East.

President Trump has repeatedly criticized Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, dismissing him as “no Winston Churchill” and accusing the UK of insufficient support.

Yet the president has struck a markedly different tone toward the 77-year-old monarch. Trump, who was hosted by Charles at Windsor Castle for an unprecedented second state visit last September, said last week that he was “looking forward” to welcoming the King.

“He’s a friend of mine,” Trump said. “He’s a great gentleman.”

The announcement, made on Tuesday by the palace, confirms a trip that had been the subject of weeks of speculation and political controversy.

Nearly half of the British public opposed the visit in a recent YouGov poll, and senior political figures, including Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey, had called for it to be postponed, warning that a royal tour could be seen as an endorsement of Trump’s wartime leadership.

Buckingham Palace said the visit was taking place “on advice of His Majesty’s Government, and at the invitation of The President of the United States.”

The program, it said, would “celebrate the historic connections and the modern bilateral relationship between the United Kingdom and the United States, marking the 250th anniversary of American Independence.”

The King and Queen are expected to attend a state dinner at the White House during their Washington stay, and Charles will deliver an address to a joint session of Congress, an honour last accorded to a British monarch when his mother addressed U.S. lawmakers in 1991 following the Gulf War.

The itinerary will also include a visit to New York, where the King is expected to tour the 9/11 memorial.

After the U.S. leg of the tour, Charles will travel alone to Bermuda for his first royal visit as monarch to a British Overseas Territory. Camilla is not expected to accompany him on that portion of the trip.

The visit reciprocates Trump’s September 2025 state visit to the UK, a lavish affair at Windsor Castle that featured a carriage procession and a state banquet attended by the Prince and Princess of Wales.

At the time, Trump described the Anglo-American alliance in lyrical terms, saying: “We’re like two notes in one chord or two verses of the same poem, each beautiful on its own, but really meant to be played together.”

That warmth has since been tested. Since the U.S. and Israel launched military operations against Iran in February, Starmer has authorized the use of British bases for defensive purposes, including hosting U.S. Air Force bombers at RAF Fairford, but has declined to commit UK forces to offensive strikes, citing concerns over the operation’s lawfulness.

Trump has derided Britain’s stance as insufficient. The public criticism has prompted some Labour MPs, including Foreign Affairs Select Committee chair Dame Emily Thornberry, to suggest it would be “safer to delay” the King’s visit to avoid placing the monarch in an “embarrassing” position.

The U.S. ambassador to the UK, Warren Stephens, pushed back against that view, saying cancellation would be a “very big mistake” and describing the trip as a “very meaningful” opportunity for Charles.