King
Charles visits Trump: what are the potential pitfalls for the monarch?
The king
faces possibly his most important ever speech and a thin-skinned president, in
the shadow of the Sussexes and the Epstein scandal. What could go wrong?
Caroline
Davies
Caroline
Davies
Mon 27
Apr 2026 05.00 BST
On his
high-stakes four-day state visit to the US, King Charles will have to walk a
diplomatic tightrope as the guest of an erratic Donald Trump against the
backdrop of Iran and security concerns after Saturday night’s shooting at the
White House correspondents’ dinner.
Many
challenges lie ahead as he takes up his UK government-decreed task to “reaffirm
and renew” bilateral ties amid a worsening “special relationship” on the 250th
anniversary of American independence.
Meanwhile,
the ghost of Jeffrey Epstein and the shadow of the Sussexes are never far away.
1. Tricky
visit with unprecedented degree of difficulty
The
contemporary political historian Anthony Seldon said the 27-30 April visit was
“obviously beyond tricky” and had a “degree of difficulty” vastly surpassing
any official visit since the first one by a reigning monarch, when George VI
met Franklin D Roosevelt to persuade him to enter the second world war.
“Because you are dealing with somebody who is so unpredictable,” Seldon said.
He said
relations with the US had gone through difficult periods before: Lyndon B Johnson and Harold Wilson, Richard
Nixon and Edward Heath, Dwight Eisenhower and Anthony Eden – the latter leading
to Eden’s ousting after the Suez crisis. “So it’s a tense moment. But there
have been tense moments in the past. And it will be fascinating to see how the
monarch plays it.”
Seldon
said since Charles was “probably the one person in the world who Trump doesn’t
want to offend”, the president would operate “within tramlines”, thus giving
the king “more leeway”.
On the
“most important visit of the king’s life”, Charles could “either be very
cautious and safe, or he can remind the American people of the basis on which
the United States was formed 250 years ago”, Seldon added. He said values
shared with the UK were of a country that moved away from arbitrary power on
the basis of separation of powers, with the bill of rights at its heart;
individual rights, limited government, rule of law, enlightenment values. Not
to mention a shared history stretching back centuries.
Prof
Philip Murphy, the director of history and policy at the University of London,
said the risk was more significant for Keir Starmer than for Charles,
particularly after the Peter Mandelson and Olly Robbins controversy. “It’s
another aspect of this desperate desire to court Trump and to take really
significant risks,” he said.
“They’ve
risked the prestige of their head of state, they’ve put his dignity in peril by
putting him in contact with Trump, who is both hugely controversial and a very
tricky person to deal with in public,” Murphy said.
2. King’s
security taken ‘very seriously’
Charles’s
visit will have “appropriate security in place in relation to the risk”, a
minister said on Sunday after Donald and Melania Trump were evacuated from the
White House correspondents’ dinner on Saturday evening when the event was
interrupted by gunfire.
Darren
Jones, the chief secretary to the prime minister, told the BBC’s Sunday with
Laura Kuenssberg programme that further discussions about the king’s security
would take place on Sunday. Asked if that meant there would be any escalation
of what had already been planned, he said: “There’ll be appropriate security in
place in relation to the risk.”
Jones
told Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips on Sky News: “As you would imagine,
the government and the palace take the security of his majesty very seriously,
and there were already extensive discussions taking place, which will continue
over the coming days.”
A
Buckingham Palace spokesperson confirmed that talks were ongoing, saying: “A
number of discussions will be taking place throughout the day to discuss with
US colleagues and our respective teams to what degree the events of Saturday
evening may or may not impact on the operational planning for the visit.”
3. The
king’s most important speech yet
Charles’s
address to a joint meeting of Congress will be televised internationally and is
possibly his most important to date. According to Buckingham Palace, he will
“recognise the challenges that our countries face”. But Trump notoriously
easily takes offence.
When
Queen Elizabeth II addressed Congress in 1991, she said power that grew “from
the barrel of a gun” never grew well “nor for very long”, and spoke of the
importance of Nato; of how Europe could become more open, liberal and aligned
with the US; and of the importance and value “of the rich ethnic and cultural
diversity” of both countries.
“That
would be taken as a direct attack on Trump now,” Murphy said. “What Charles
will, I’m sure, do is try and appeal almost over the head of Trump to the
American public.” He could stress common values: belief in freedom, belief in
democracy, a long history of friendship. “It’s almost saying, without saying
it, that Trump is here, but Trump will go and there are longer cultural and
political affinities there. He can do it in a way that a political leader
can’t. He can make it appear that the strength of the relationship is beyond
politics.”
Seldon
said there was no need for Charles to even mention Trump, so leaving it up to
individuals to see whether the “current chief executive of the US is aligning
himself with those values”.
“I think
[the address] could be so oblique, and done very deftly, gently, and in a
polite and respectful way. The right speech, respectfully delivered, could
help. And it can certainly help remind American people about the deep, profound
bonds – intellectual, humane bonds – that unite both countries.”
4. Will
private remain private?
Undoubtedly
with Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s outrageous humiliation in mind, Charles’s Oval
Office bilateral has been organised to take place in private after a
grip-and-grin photo call. The king, the head of state and of the armed forces,
enters knowing Trump has publicly insulted his UK prime minister and mocked the
UK military. And Charles is also king of Canada, a country subjected to severe
provocation by Trump.
However
the king broaches these, if indeed he does, he needs to tread carefully with a
president who shoots from the hip and loves speaking to cameras and posting on
Truth Social. Murphy said: “He’ll [Charles] be very careful about what he says,
because it may very well be reported back. I don’t think Trump has a strong
sense of what is private and what is not.”
5. The
ghost of Epstein and shadow of the Sussexes
After
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s arrest on suspicion of misconduct in public office
over his connection with Jeffrey Epstein, the US congresswoman Ro Khanna and
Sky Roberts, the brother of the late Virginia Giuffre, urged Charles and
especially Camilla to meet Epstein survivors.
No such
meeting will take place, a palace source has said, on the grounds it could
jeopardise police inquiries and potential legal action, “to the detriment of
the survivors themselves in their pursuit of justice”.
If there
are protests, the king and queen will be shielded from them. The itinerary
offers few opportunities for the couple to come face to face with the public. A
visit to a “block party” in Virginia is likely to be the only one.
Murphy
said: “There will clearly be press comment. There may be some sort of public
protests about it. If he walks around in crowds, people might call out.”
But many
Americans may only have seen media coverage of Charles recently in the Epstein
or Sussexes context. “So, one talks about the risks, but there’s also a benefit
for him here. After a really rough time around Andrew, Harry and Meghan, he can
show that he can actually play a valuable role, a role that transcends
politics,” Murphy said.
And what
about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, in west coast Montecito almost 3,000
miles from Washington DC? It is understood there are no plans for a father and
son reunion during the visit. The best the palace can hope for is no ill-timed
soul-baring interviews by Harry, especially on the subject of his royal
upbringing.
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