King Charles has faced challenge after challenge, including cancer diagnosis, the landmark decision to oust his brother, a slew of scandals, and he is yet to enter the fourth year of his reign.
Even though the royal family traditionally does not take a political stance publicly, Charles has often exercised his soft diplomacy to help the UK government and even in the matters of the Commonwealth.
Last year, despite his scepticism, the royals hosted Donald Trump for a full State Visit as the government wanted to smooth things over for crucial trade relations.
However, now, the King is absolutely dreading the forthcoming visit to the United States given how tense the ties have gotten between Trump and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, according to royal expert Duncan Larcombe.
“This is one of, if not the biggest tests of King Charles since he became monarch, because a historically special relationship is in a perilous situation,” he said. “Donald Trump is openly criticising the Prime Minister, which is something that Charles hasn’t had to cope with before.”
The expert explained, “Donald Trump is his own force and we know how much the royal connection means to him, so the pressure’s on Charles to make this a success, definitely.”
Tensions between Trump and Starmer have been aggravated since the UK PM has refused to support the US approach to the Middle-East conflict. Starmer has called it. Trump did not hold back on his criticism for the UK government but maintains his high praise for King Charles.
He called Charles a “friend” and a “great gentleman”. In addition, he has also claimed that the King would have support his strategy for Iran, which promoted the Buckingham Palace to brief that the monarch does not express political views.
It remains to be seen if Charles can smooth over things to strengthen the UK-US relations.
