King Charles III and Queen Camilla will visit the United States from April 27 to 30, a controversial trip amid the conflict in the Middle East and tensions between Washington and London.
Their program will “celebrate the historical ties and current bilateral relations between the United Kingdom and the United States, on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of American independence,” according to a statement released Tuesday by Buckingham Palace.
“I am looking forward to spending time with the king, whom I greatly respect. It will be great” and “memorable,” said Donald Trump in a post on his Truth Social network, detailing the dates of this upcoming visit. A “beautiful banquet” will take place at the White House on April 28, the American president added.
The king and queen will then visit Bermuda from April 30 to May 2 for the monarch’s first official visit to a UK overseas territory since ascending to the throne in September 2022.
London and Washington, linked by 250 years of history, have forged a “special relationship” characterized by very close diplomatic, military, and economic ties.
During her reign, Queen Elizabeth II was received four times on state visits to the United States, notably in 1976 to celebrate the bicentennial of American independence and in 1991, with a historic address to the American Congress.
Donald Trump, a great admirer of the royal family, was himself received in September on a state visit to the UK for the second time, with all the royal splendor, from the carriage procession to the sumptuous banquet at Windsor Castle.
According to the US ambassador in London, Warren Stephens, House of Representatives President Mike Johnson proposed that Charles III deliver a speech before both houses of the American Congress.
Calls to postpone
This visit to the United States comes amid the conflict in the Middle East, sparked on February 28 by American-Israeli strikes against Iran and their global economic consequences.
Donald Trump has not spared Prime Minister Keir Starmer since the beginning of the conflict, accusing the British leader of weakly supporting his great American ally.
“This is not Winston Churchill we are dealing with,” he sharply remarked in early March, expressing his dissatisfaction with London, which initially refused the United States the use of its military bases.
The Labour leader assured that despite these statements, the “special relationship” with Washington was “at work.”
His government, in power since July 2024, took care to maintain its relations with the Trump administration. It boasted of obtaining better treatment than many countries, especially in tariff negotiations.
According to a YouGov poll published on Thursday, nearly half of Britons (49%) are against this visit.
Several British parliamentarians also oppose it. This honor “should not be granted to someone who insults and undermines our country in a repeated manner,” said Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey.
The President of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the House of Commons, Labour’s Emily Thornberry, also deemed it “safer to postpone” the visit, fearing that Charles and Camilla might find themselves in an “embarrassing situation.”
Remaining strictly politically neutral, Charles III has not made any public comments on the US president’s desires to make Canada — whose king is the head of state — the 51st American state. This did not prevent him from defending the sovereignty of the country during a highly symbolic visit in May 2025.
At 77 years old, King Charles has faced several major crises in his over three years of reign. He was diagnosed with cancer in February 2024, for which he is still receiving treatment.
He is also dealing with the repercussions of the Jeffrey Epstein affair, which led to the arrest of his brother Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor in February for allegedly passing confidential information to the American pedophile and financier in 2019.
