King determined to carry out US state visit as Palace insiders tell all | Royal | News

King Charles was determined to make the “high-risk” visit to the US; Despite criticism that this visit was too political, he seized the opportunity to help repair the special relationship “with both hands.” Prime Minister Keir Starmer was not sent to fill gaps in his failure to engage with President Donald Trump’s administration, a senior Palace official who was on the visit said.

But the King never hesitated to stand up for his beliefs and defend Britain and democracy on the world stage. And nowhere was that clearer in his speech to Congress on Tuesday. He did not shy away from the complicated issues of Ukraine, the importance of NATO, the need to protect the environment, and ensuring balance and strength over executive authority.

He was carefully prepared, only subtly criticizing President Trump’s administration and ensuring his speech was delivered respectfully and with his characteristic humor and wit.

Evaluating the speech, the Palace aide said: “It was a very important speech for the Congress.” Asked why the King wanted to include potentially thorny issues, they added: “It was a measure of how much he cared personally.”

They added: “First, what the King says will always be guided by the facts. Second, it will be guided by conscience. Third, these are all observable facts. Everything in that speech is an observable fact. And so I think we were very relieved that the King spoke that way.”

There had been calls for the Government to cancel the four-day official visit, as the special relationship remained hanging by a thread due to the complex political backdrop of the trip.

There were countless events that brought the trip, which had been kept in the diary for years, to a halt. The Iran war, President Trump’s public spat with the Prime Minister, his dismissive comments about the British military, and then the escalating security complexities following the shooting at a Washington dinner attended by the President and First Lady.

But the King, who was highly skilled in diplomacy after years of traveling the world on behalf of the British Government, did not want to pass up the opportunity to mend the fences between the two countries.

“What seemed like a risk and a challenge was also an extraordinary opportunity,” the senior Palace aide said. “Something grasped by the king with both hands; we will leave it to you to decide what the outcome of that is.”

Everywhere we visited after the speech, from Washington to New York to the small towns of Bermuda, people praised the King’s highly diplomatic yet pointed speech.

A poll published on Saturday suggests a majority of Britons believe the King is doing well in America. Three-quarters of those surveyed by YouGov on May 1 said they handled the visit well, while only four per cent thought they handled the visit poorly.

And even when the President went off the track and claimed that Charles would “probably help us with Iran,” the House staff couldn’t help but take a sharp breath, as they realized that Mr. Trump is unpredictable and has a habit of speaking his mind.

Palace sources described the trip as “historic” not only because it took place on the 250th anniversary of America’s independence. But there is no doubt that the King’s speech to Congress will go down in history as one of the most remarkable speeches he has ever made.

He has given thousands of speeches, but few have hit such politically fraught ground and yet been so widely celebrated by people from across the political spectrum.

Mr Trump himself summed it up perfectly when he opened his speech at the state dinner to sing the praises of the King’s speech. “I want to congratulate Charles on giving a great speech to Congress today,” Trump said. “It brought the Democrats to their feet, I could never do that, I couldn’t believe it,” he added, to enthusiastic applause.

Palace aides echoed those remarks, clearly pleased with how well the President was doing despite the Trump administration’s subtle rebuttals.

This is a sign of the warm relationship between the two men; We should not forget the Queen and the First Lady, who get along well. The two women are often seen giggling and chatting throughout their joint get-together.

Speaking of the strength of their personal relationship, the Palace aide said: “They get on very well. And not just the King and the president. All four of them. With each other. The Queen and the president. The Queen and the First Lady. The King and the First Lady. The King and the president. It’s a match, unlikely in many ways…

“I mean, given some of the issues that have arisen in bilateral relations, you might think it’s all a little rocky. But it’s not. And the warmth you see in public is definitely the warmth you see in private. In that meeting in the Oval Office, there was a lot of warmth and laughter, as well as more serious dialogue.”

In the months leading up to the trip, Palace and Downing Street held frequent discussions about their objectives and there was a sense that they had all been met. He reaffirmed the people-to-people ties between the two countries, as well as emphasizing the importance of economic, defense and cultural ties.

But the King had no time to dwell on the success of the four-day state visit as he immediately flew to Bermuda for a royal visit after concluding talks in Virginia on Thursday afternoon.

Aides were hoping to close their eyes and get some rest on the two-hour flight after a busy few days during which the King and Queen were engaged 18 times between them.

But Charles, who is 77 and continues to receive treatment for cancer, had other ideas and within 10 minutes he was in his Bermuda arrival attire and going through his file on Bermuda before returning to the state lodge.

One insider joked that there wasn’t even time to open a bag of nuts before the wheels touched down on the 21-square-mile archipelago.

But this perfectly sums up who the king was, acting out of duty and not letting the discomfort of his illness get in his way. A senior palace official said: “This is a man who is purely driven by duty. He is driven by service.”

And he was greatly buoyed by the overwhelming response to his whirlwind trip to Bermuda, where thousands of people came out from across the island to applaud and salute him.

“The King enjoyed it very much,” the aide explained. “It was very busy and the crowds were so big that it made us stay very late, but when you feel like you’re doing a good thing here, showing that this island is important to Britain, nobody cares because it’s certainly important to the King too.”

But when he returned to London last night, the King had his sights set on the next target. “He’s not a guy who’s going to dwell too long on what some might consider yesterday’s accomplishments,” the senior aide said.

“He’s always looking at tomorrow’s opportunities, so we’ve tried to encourage him to feel positive overall – he’s been particularly positive about the progress of the American leg, but his mind is already focused on what he can achieve next rather than what he’s achieved this week.”

And ahead of the King’s final three appearances in Bermuda, they added: “As long as things go well today we’ll sit on the plane and think it was a week well spent.”