King and Queen bid formal farewell to US president and first lady
The King and Queen have said farewell to the US president and first lady as they near the end of a frenetic four-day state visit.
Charles and Camilla have fulfilled a packed agenda since touching down in Washington on Monday, while smoothing transatlantic tensions over the Iran war. Their busy and varied schedule took the royal couple from taking tea at the White House with Donald Trump and his wife Melania, and a garden party at the British embassy, to meeting tech moguls, a high-profile visit to Congress and a white-tie banquet in their honour. They also travelled to New York where they left flowers and paid their respects at the memorial to the thousands killed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks almost 25 years ago. The most closely watched event of the trip, to mark the 250th anniversary of American independence, was Charles’s historic address on Capitol Hill to a joint meeting of the Senate and House of Representatives. He was only the second British monarch to do so after his mother Queen Elizabeth II in 1991, and the first British king. In his well-received speech, which drew repeated applause and standing ovations, Charles acknowledged the recent fractious UK-US relations, telling the audience of legislators that “we can perhaps agree that we do not always agree” and pointed out it was an enduring partnership “born out of dispute”. He also sought to put current difficulties into context, with the two nations’ defence and security ties “hard-wired together through relationships measured not in years, but in decades”. But the King did not shy away from stressing the need for a strong Nato and help for Ukraine, both of which Mr Trump has railed against. He also pointedly spoke of his pride at having served in the Royal Navy, a service Mr Trump has derided in his ongoing criticism of the UK over the Middle East conflict. Singer Lionel Richie, a King’s Trust global ambassador, praised the speech, describing Charles as a wise friend “giving advice as to what we should be doing”. Camilla, asked about the trip during a brief interview with NBC’s Today breakfast show, said: “It’s been a whistlestop. “It’s been really good fun, but we have moved quite fast.” When it was put to her that the royal couple had been to “a lot of places”, the Queen replied: “We have, but it’s been wonderful and everybody’s been very kind and welcoming. “It’s always a pleasure to be here.” The trip has not been without its anxious moments, not least when Mr Trump told a White House dinner the King agreed with him that Iran should never be allowed nuclear weapons. Conversations with the monarch are usually kept private. The president followed this up the next day by saying he felt Charles, who he described as “a great friend of mine”, would have joined in his military strikes against Iran. There were also diplomatic blushes after it was revealed the British ambassador to the US had said America’s only “special relationship” was “probably Israel”. The Foreign Office stressed the comments by Sir Christian Turner to a group of visiting students in February were “certainly not any reflection of the UK Government’s position”. There had been a last-minute question mark over the visit after a gunman attempted to storm a Washington dinner attended by Mr Trump on Saturday night. Following discussions on both sides of the Atlantic it was decided to “proceed as planned” with “all appropriate security measures” in place. At the end of the US state visit, Charles is travelling alone to Bermuda for a three-day royal visit – his first as King to a British Overseas Territory.
Published: by Radio NewsHub