King Charles will use his speech to Congress to help repair the “special relationship” between the US and Britain that has been strained by the Iran war.
The king plans to highlight reconciliation and renewal in a speech Tuesday before the White House and Senate that is expected to last about 20 minutes, according to royal aides.
Charles will celebrate “one of the greatest alliances in history,” which has been tested as President Donald Trump complained about the reluctance of Prime Minister Keir Starmer, along with other NATO allies, to provide support for a US-led attack on Iran, aides said.
He will refer to the common national security interests of the United States and the United Kingdom, including NATO, the Middle East, Ukraine and the AUKUS trilateral agreement with Australia.
Starmer’s handling of some of those issues has drawn criticism from Trump, who derided the prime minister as “no Winston Churchill” after Britain initially refused to allow the US to use its bases to attack Iran at the start of the war.
Asked earlier this month about his relationship with Starmer and the state of the US-UK partnership, Trump told ITV News it was “not good at all.”
Charles is expected to acknowledge the tension by noting that the two nations have not always seen eye to eye, but that “from time to time, our two countries have found ways to come back together,” according to royal aides.
In his speech, Charles also plans to emphasize the need to respect the rule of law and democratic traditions, and argue for the importance of trade and technology agreements – a message that may go down well with the administration.
Royal aides said the king’s remarks would also include a brief message of condolences for Saturday’s incident at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
Dan Bloom contributed to this report.
