King Charles is set to make a high-stakes visit to the U.S. as President Trump wages war abroad and desperately fights sliding polls at home.
Buckingham Palace on Tuesday announced that the visit from Charles—his first state visit to the U.S.—and Queen Camilla “will take place in late April, with dates and details of the programmes to be confirmed nearer the time.”
Less than 90 minutes later, Trump wrote on Truth Social: “Melania and I are pleased to announce that Their Majesties, the King and Queen of the United Kingdom, will visit the United States for a Historic State Visit from April 27-30th, which will include a beautiful Banquet Dinner at the White House on the evening of April 28th.”
“This momentous occasion will be even more special this year, as we commemorate the 250th Anniversary of our Great Country. I look forward to spending time with the King, whom I greatly respect. It will be TERRIFIC!”
The BBC reported that the visit will include an address to Congress from Charles.
The royals will visit Bermuda after the stopover in the U.S.
“On advice of His Majesty’s Government, and at the invitation of The President of the United States, The King and Queen will undertake a State Visit to the United States of America,” Buckingham Palace said.
“Their Majesties’ program will celebrate the historic connections and the modern bilateral relationship between the United Kingdom and the United States, marking the 250th anniversary of American Independence.”
The BBC suggested that Trump’s war in Iran may have delayed an announcement. The national broadcaster reported that the U.K. government may have been “waiting for a gap in the political tensions” to reveal the news. Trump has publicly criticized the British government over a perceived lack of support in his war on Iran.
On Tuesday morning, not long before Buckingham Palace’s announcement, Trump again attacked the U.K. on Truth Social, urging its leaders to build up some “delayed courage.”
“You’ll have to start learning how to fight for yourself, the U.S.A. won’t be there to help you anymore, just like you weren’t there for us,” Trump wrote.
Trump’s visit to the U.K. last year offered a diplomatic reset in tone, at a time when his rhetoric was increasingly erratic towards traditional allies as he imposed painful tariffs.
However, Steve Schmidt, the co-founder of The Lincoln Project and the Save America Movement, has said that the visit could harm King Charles.
Speaking on The Daily Beast Podcast in February as talk of a state visit intensified, he warned the monarch that he could be getting used as “a propaganda tool.”
“I have a message for the king: I’m involved in a group called the Save America Movement,” Schmidt told host Joanna Coles. “The king should not come to America in 2026.”
Schmidt vowed to project images of Trump and late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein onto buildings if and when the King visits. “I will run ad campaigns that, again, boggle the British imagination,” he said.
“Should he step foot on American soil in service of MAGA as a propaganda tool, then the crown will be attacked with an advertising campaign that would not be permitted in England,” Schmidt continued. “It will be no holds barred.”
Meanwhile, Trump and his war are polling terribly. In the latest damning survey, a Harvard Caps-Harris poll found last week that the 79-year-old president’s approval rating fell in nine key areas: the economy, immigration, foreign affairs, administering the government, handling inflation, reducing the cost of the government, returning America to its values, tariffs and trade policy, and fighting crime in America’s cities.
But, undeterred by facts, Trump last week claimed that the Iran war was actually helping his standing with the public.
“I think I’m more popular than I ever have been,” he told Fox News.
A Fox poll showed Trump with a 59 percent disapproval rating, the highest figure of his second term. A New York Times daily average of all the top polls has Trump at a 56 percent disapproval rating.
As Prince of Wales, Charles visited the United States 19 times, but this will mark his first visit as a monarch. His late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, visited officially four times: in 1957, 1976, 1991, and 2007.
The president and First Lady Melania Trump made an official visit to the U.K. in September last year.
The pomp and pageantry were dialed up for the official welcome, complete with a guard of honor from three regiments of the British Army, a rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” and a ride in a horse-drawn carriage.
“He honored me and our country... we had an amazing time,” Trump said after the visit.
The Daily Beast’s royal expert Tom Sykes said at the time that the exaggerated welcome “was a grotesque parody of a coronation parade” designed to flatter Trump in a bid to protect the fraying “special relationship” between the two great superpowers.
The White House has been contacted for comment.
