When King Charles and Queen Camilla landed in the United States on Monday, they both donned matching brooches showing the British and American flags intertwined. The small but significant symbol captured exactly what King Charles hopes to achieve during his historic four-day state visit: harmony between the two nations.
“It has historically fallen to the royals to expand the relationship with America,” royal author Andrew Morton recently told Vanity Fair. “We don’t have the late Queen anymore, and we don’t have Princess Diana who enchanted everyone when she famously danced with John Travolta at the White House. Yet the special relationship still matters and must continue.”
King Charles’s visit comes at a time when the relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom is strained, with President Trump criticizing Britain and its Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer for not supporting his war in Iran. On Tuesday, Charles delivered an historic address to Congress that discussed executive power being “subject to checks and balances,” defended NATO, offered support to Ukraine, and drew bipartisan acclaim.
“The King’s speech to Congress isn’t just the most important moment of the King’s tour, it’s the most important moment of his reign because both sides of Congress were listening intently,” Morton said. “In the end it was a master class on how to walk through a potential political minefield without exploding bombs. His speech was witty with a finely tuned sense of timing, which had his audience rising to their feet no less than twelve times in approval. As Trump said at the state dinner, the King did what he had never done — getting a standing ovation from the Democrat side of the house.”
The King’s carefully crafted speech was more daring than anything Charles’s mother, Queen Elizabeth II said when she addressed Congress in 1991. Then again, the political weather was much more benign, the two nations having worked hand in glove in the first Gulf War.
“The Queen’s speech was commendable for the warmth of her reception. They laughed at her jokes,” recalls the author of The Morton Files. “Her Majesty made the point that this was a family and that we stuck together. The political climate was different. It was 1991 – just after the Gulf War. Britain and America had been in lock step. What has been tricky this time round is that Republicans are riled that Britain hasn’t supported America in Iran so the King has had a tricky job, but he carried it off.
“He reminded Congress of the warmth and longevity of America and Britain’s friendship. His speech was very important, as is his presence in America. The King has focused on defining the present through the telescope of the past, reminding his audience of how the Magna Carta, signed in 1215, was the legal bedrock for both nations.”