Why King Charles' US state visit could be a big risk for everyone

About this episode

The episode discusses the risks associated with King Charles' state visit to the US amid strained relations and ongoing controversies.

The King and Queen will meet with US President Donald Trump in person five times over four days as they try to patch up the strained relations between the US and UK amid the conflict in Iran. And everyone involved in the visit admits it is the most risky diplomatic trip of King Charles’ reign so far. Trump has said Starmer is "no Winston Churchill", he picked on his voice, shared social media posts mocking his British counterpart and called Royal Navy warships "toys" compared to American ones. But the prime minister put his faith in the so-called 'soft-power' of the monarchy, which he said, "is often able to reach through the decades on a situation like this". Only stills photographers have been invited into the Oval Office when the King meets the President, which limits the chance of Donald Trump saying something awkward in front of TV cameras. But no one can ever be confident that Trump will stick to his script at a state dinner in Washington. What the King and Queen will not be able to do on the trip is see those Epstein survivors who have written to the palace asking for a meeting. There is currently a criminal investigation in the UK into the King's younger brother, Andrew…

People in this episode

Host: ITV News

Topics covered

• diplomatic relations
• US-UK relations
• King Charles
• state visit
• politics
• soft power

Keywords

• King Charles
• Donald Trump
• US state visit
• diplomatic risk
• soft power
• Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor
• political tensions

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Royal Navy

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