WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is expressing confidence that King Charles III’s visit to Washington next week could help smooth tensions between the U.S. and United Kingdom while appearing to brush aside a comment from the British monarch’s son calling for America to do more on the war in Ukraine.
The upcoming royal visit and Prince Harry’s remarks come at a somewhat shaky time in the long-standing relationship between the U.S. and U.K., particularly in the wake of Trump’s decision to launch a war in Iran alongside Israel.
But speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday, Trump gave no indication any tensions would bleed into the royal family’s trip to the White House, with the president referring to Charles as a “friend” and declaring that he loves the U.K.
“We’re really looking forward to it,” Trump told reporters. “We’ve spoken and it’s — we’re going to have a great time.”
He also appeared to downplay the significance of comments from Harry, who stepped back from his royal duties in 2020 and now primarily resides in the U.S. During a visit to Kyiv, Ukraine, this week, Harry called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine while urging leadership in the U.S. to do more.
“This is a moment for American leadership,” Harry said in an address at the Kyiv Security Forum. “A moment for America to show that it can honor its international treaty obligations, not out of charity, but out of its own enduring role in global security and strategic stability.”
Asked about the remarks and the timing of them coming just ahead of the king and queen’s visit, Trump — who once said he could end the war in Ukraine in a day but has since frequently lamented that doing so has been much harder than he thought — first responded by asking, “How’s he doing?”
He then referenced Harry’s wife, the Duchess of Sussex, formerly known as Meghan Markle, an American who has previously butted heads with Trump, asking how she was doing as well before pivoting and saying that Harry was not “speaking for the U.K.”
“I think I’m speaking for the U.K. more than Prince Harry, but I appreciate his advice very much,” Trump responded, the second part of which seemed to be sarcasm.
The back-and-forth came just four days before Charles and Queen Camilla are set to arrive in the U.S. for a highly anticipated visit that is intended to commemorate America marking its 250th anniversary this year. The king and queen’s four-day trip to the U.S. starting Monday is expected to include stops in Washington, New York and Virginia. The royals will take part in a state dinner at the White House, and Charles is set to deliver an address to Congress, marking just the second time a British monarch has done so. His mother, Queen Elizabeth II, spoke in front of a joint session of Congress in 1991.
The trip will return the favor from Trump’s state visit to the U.K. last year that was filled with pomp and pageantry and made him the first U.S. president to receive two such visits to the country.
In initial interactions upon Trump’s return to office last year, he and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer appeared to have a cordial public relationship, a somewhat surprising development given their political differences.
But since then, tensions have flared, with Trump criticizing Starmer and the country’s leadership over immigration, energy and the use of military bases. The U.S. president has also taken to slamming the U.K. and other NATO countries for what he says is their lack of support for his war effort in Iran.
Trump told BBC in a phone interview that next week’s visit could “absolutely” help ease strains and repair the relationship between the U.S. and U.K., again praising Charles as “fantastic.” As for Starmer, Trump told the BBC that the British leader could “recover.”
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