King Charles III and Queen Camilla’s State Visit to the United States
- King Charles III and Queen Camilla are embarking on a long-planned state visit to the United States from April 27 to 30.
- Amid a difficult context, particularly due to the deterioration of American-British relations, the sovereign is scheduled to address both chambers of Congress, a very rare event.
Just hours after the shootings at a gala attended by Donald Trump, the American president is preparing to welcome the King and Queen of England. As part of a long-planned state visit marking the 250th anniversary of American independence, Charles III and Camilla are set to travel across the Atlantic between April 27 and 30.
“This visit will be an opportunity to showcase the common history of our two nations, the depth of relations […] and the profound bonds that unite our peoples,”
said Buckingham Palace in a statement. During this trip, the monarch is expected to address both houses of the American Congress in Washington. This would be only the second time in history such an event has occurred, following Queen Elizabeth II’s speech at the Capitol in 1991. After a state dinner at the White House, the sovereign is then scheduled to head to New York and then to Bermuda, a British overseas territory.
A Trip Threatened by Recent Events?
However, “discussions will be held (on Sunday) throughout the day to assess, with our American counterparts and respective teams, to what extent the events of Saturday evening could or could not impact the operational planning of the visit,”
a spokesperson for the royal family said. “The government and the palace take His Majesty’s security very seriously, and in-depth discussions, already underway, will continue in the coming days,”
added Darren Jones, the Secretary of State for Intergovernmental Relations, on Sky News.
In a tense context marked by deteriorating relations between the United States and Great Britain due to the Middle East war, if the visit of the King and Queen proceeds, it will be noteworthy. Donald Trump has been highly critical of Prime Minister Keir Starmer, accusing him of not supporting the American-Israeli offensive against Iran. “The relationship between our two countries is very important in many respects,”
and often, “thanks to the ties it weaves,”
the monarchy can “go beyond (…) a situation like this,”
said the 10 Downing Street resident.
It is also worth noting that this trip coincides with the fallout from the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, which led to the arrest of his brother Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor in February for allegedly passing confidential information to the American pedocriminal in 2019.
