The King’s Admirer in ChiefNEWS | 30 April 2026Cannons fired. Fifes and drums played “Yankee Doodle.” A quartet of F-35s flew overhead, and dozens of military service members held American and British flags. It was about as much pomp as the United States can muster. This 250th anniversary of America, for the Brits, can be … a bit awkward. It’s like celebrating a divorce with your ex, decades after the breakup. But here was King Charles III, ready to toast the land that his great-grandfather five times over allowed to get away. And here, too, was President Trump—who has long admired, complimented, and envied the Royal Family—doing little to tamp down suspicions that he strives to become a monarch in his own right.
Charles’s visit to Washington was part of the celebrations for an anniversary Trump is eager to mark, and the president was keen to impress the King who’d come across the Atlantic. As Trump took the stage yesterday on a dreary morning filled with spitting rain (“What a beautiful British day this is!” he said), he also reveled in the unlikeliness of the onetime subjects welcoming the monarch. “In the shadows of monuments to George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, honoring the British king might seem an ironic beginning to our celebration of 250 years of American independence,” Trump said. “But in fact, no tribute could be more appropriate.”
He spoke of how far America had come since a ragtag crew of rebels threw off control by their imperial masters. All around him, however, was evidence of his desire to make the nation’s capital a little more, well, regal. Gilded flourishes now predominate at the White House. Outside the gates, Lafayette Park remains a construction site. The Reflecting Pool on the National Mall is closed off as Trump has it painted a bright blue. During the welcoming ceremony, cranes swung back and forth above the site where Trump last year tore down the East Wing—and now hopes a monumental ballroom will rise.
Throughout the day it was clear how much Trump admired, and wanted to emulate, Charles. In Britain, when one monarch dies, they quickly update the currency with an image of the new king or queen. In America, a gold coin with Trump’s image is in the works, as are National Park passes and passports that will bear his likeness. In Britain, there are elaborate shrines marking the history of an empire. In America, Trump plans a giant triumphal arch outside Arlington National Cemetery that’s been dubbed the Arc de Trump.
Over the past year, Democrats and other Trump opponents have staged “No Kings” rallies throughout the country. On this day, Trump, however tongue in cheek, formally declared himself one. As Charles was giving a speech at the Capitol, delivering a none-too-subtle paean to the importance of checks and balances in constitutional government, the official White House social-media account blasted out a photo of the two men. “TWO KINGS,” it read, with an emoji of a crown.
In mid-September, I arrived with President Trump for a two-day festival in the United Kingdom. A few days before arriving, other members of the press corps and I were invited to a special tour of Windsor Castle, the setting for a state banquet in Trump’s honor. A small group of us were shuttled to the property. Television cameras from around the world were broadcasting from outside the walls. As our van drove through the lush grounds, the Red Arrows, the Royal Air Force display team, flew overhead with red, white, and blue streamers behind.
It’s impossible to overstate how elaborate it all was, how meticulous the planning for it was, how grand—and, yes, over-the-top—it all appeared. Inside, each table setting featured five glasses. All told, 1,452 pieces of cutlery were spread around the table where more than 100 staff would be serving. The table itself took a week to lay together and assemble. We were instructed not to take photos, but people sneaked them anyway.
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The dinner was held in St. George’s Hall, with wooden arches and crests, pikes and shields. At one end of the room was an armored figure on horseback known as “The King’s Champion.” It references a historical figure who would ride into a banquet, throw his gauntlet down, and then challenge anyone to deny the authority of the new sovereign. At the time, it seemed a fitting metaphor for how Trump viewed himself, and his presidency. He was stretching the bounds of what it could do, and he was largely unrestrained.
The president was clearly giddy about the whole experience. “This is truly one of the highest honors of my life,” he said. “Such respect for you and such respect for your country.”
Trump has always had a soft spot for the Royal Family. He wrote to then-Prince Charles in 1994, offering him an honorary membership to Mar-a-Lago. He also received a letter from Princess Diana in 1997, just weeks before her death, in which she thanked him for sending flowers on her birthday. His mother was Scottish and, by his account, sat for an entire day in front of the television watching Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation, in 1953. “She was just enthralled by the pomp and circumstance, the whole idea of royalty and glamour,” he wrote in his book The Art of the Deal. His dad, he wrote, was less enthralled, pacing and telling her, “Enough is enough, turn it off. They’re all a bunch of con artists.”
Looking out onto the South Lawn yesterday, he recalled his mother’s affection for the royals generally, and for Charles specifically. “She really did love the family, but I also remember her saying, very clearly, ‘Charles—look, young Charles. He’s so cute,’” he said. “My mother had a crush on Charles. Can you believe it?”
This visit came at a dicey moment, with the Epstein files lingering, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s job in peril, and a war that the United States launched without British help or consultation still upending the global economy. British officials have said they hoped their king, who has tried to cozy up to Trump, would help shore up a “special relationship” that has seen better days. In his most high-profile remarks of the visit, the King was invited to address a joint session of Congress. The event had the feel of a State of the Union, with Charles walking down the center aisle and greeting politicians, the vice president and the House speaker sitting behind him as he spoke.
At moments it seemed like a stand-up routine. He joked that he was there to celebrate what transpired 250 years ago, then paused a beat. “Or, as we say in the United Kingdom, ‘just the other day.’” He quoted from Oscar Wilde (“We have really everything in common with America nowadays except, of course, language”), and he mentioned a “tale of two Georges” (“the first president, George Washington, and my five-times great-grandfather, King George III”). In what wasn’t meant as a joke but could be interpreted as one, he also called Congress, which has been mired in unusually severe bouts of dysfunction, a “renowned chamber of debate and deliberation.”
He also said some things that, coming from anyone else, Trump might have interpreted as unforgivable slights. He talked about military cooperation in the world wars and in Afghanistan, adding that “that same unyielding resolve is needed for the defense of Ukraine”—a pointed reminder that Trump has been anything but steadfast in his support for Kyiv. He spoke of environmentalism and the need to “safeguard nature, our most precious and irreplaceable asset,” at a moment when the Trump administration has been busy undoing one environmental protection after another. One of his most rousing lines came as he referenced the Magna Carta and the legal framework that both countries share, including “the principle that executive power is subject to checks and balances.” Democrats were particularly enthusiastic, but Republicans also rose from their seats.
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Rather than be offended, Trump appeared charmed, and more than a little envious. At a dinner that evening—ornate by White House standards, but nothing compared with the one in Windsor Castle last fall—Trump repeatedly complimented the King on his speech (“I was very jealous!” he said as he welcomed him outside). He marveled at how Charles was able to get the Democrats to stand and applaud him (“I couldn’t believe it!”).
As much as Trump craves the partisan combat that has been such a feature of his presidency, it was hard not to think that he’d be just fine with the near-universal adoration of a monarch.Author: Matt Viser. Source
