Beneath the Jokes and Decorations of King Charles, Hidden Opposition to Trump

King Charles III quoted Oscar Wilde, joking that the British had everything in common with America “except, of course, the language.” President Trump said the morning rain reminded him of a “good British day” and noted that his mother thought Prince Charles was “very handsome.” Both men wrote poems about the ties between their countries.

However, on the first full day of a state visit focused on the shared history between the United States and Britain, the king sprinkled in his ever-subtle opposition to Mr. Charles spoke on Tuesday about the value of the trans-Atlantic alliance, the importance of checks and balances and his love for the environment. He even talked about his time in the Royal Navy, after Mr. Trump has underestimated the strength of Britain’s military in recent weeks.

The king put his words together again in a very funny speech to Congress, which drew applause and laughter from the audience of Democrats and Republicans. It was the second time a British monarch addressed Congress.

“Please make sure I’m not here as part of a rear guard trickery!” said the king.

The disciplined and careful public appearance of Charles and Mr. Trump has come at a critical time for US-British relations, arguably at their lowest point in decades with the Iran war and Mr. Trump’s horror at NATO.

But a day (and maybe just a day), a special relationship that has grown over the past 250 years seems – on the surface at least – special.

In a rarity of the Trump era, the president did not step down during most of the day’s ceremonial events. He didn’t invite a crowd of reporters to the Oval Office just before their meeting to answer questions about Iran, the ballroom or Greenland in front of his visiting foreign dignitary. He did not attack another world partner.

Instead, Mr. Trump has praised the king.

“Before we declared our independence, the American people possessed a rare gift – moral courage – and we came from a small but powerful empire across the ocean,” said Mr. Trump on Tuesday morning when he welcomed Charles to the White House.

There is little evidence in recent history that the feel-good period will last beyond the royal couple’s flight to American shores on Thursday, especially as Mr.

Mr. Trump is furious with Britain for its refusal to join the fight against Iran, and his administration continues to accuse the British government of denying free speech in public. In London, Prime Minister Keir Starmer vows not to be dragged into another war of America’s choosing, and cheers when the president describes their aircraft carriers as mere “toys”.

That distinction will never be erased by the king’s first visit to the United States as a British monarch. By law and tradition, the king must avoid the daily political ups and downs and disputes that often undermine the leaders of both governments.

Mr. Trump was a guest of the royal family at a state dinner at Windsor Castle last September, an experience he described as “one of the highest honors of my life.” Months later, he looked down on Mr. Starmer as a coward for not getting into a US-Israel war with Iran.

“That was not too long ago and look where we are in terms of bilateral relations,” said Philippe Dickinson, deputy director of the Atlantic Council’s Transatlantic Security Initiative. “It can be taken as evidence for those who will open a case that they are good words one day and then forgotten the next day.”

The king at one point appeared to address, casually, the Jeffrey Epstein scandal that has created a political headache for the Trump administration and caused a rift within the royal family.

“In both of our countries, it is the reality of our vibrant, diverse and free communities that gives us all strength, including supporting the victims of other problems, which are very sad, that exist in both of our communities today,” said Charles.

Mr. Trump welcomed the king to the White House with a ceremony known as the military review, the highest US honor given to a visiting head of state, and a 21-gun salute by the guard.

In a speech that was very close to his prepared words, Mr. Trump praised the Anglo-American relationship in high terms, explaining that it created a “revolution of human freedom” that “has never been extinguished, but has continued through the centuries, across the seas and through history, until it became a fire that burned the whole world.”

And while Charles did not directly address tensions between Britain and the United States — and no part of the king’s or the president’s day-to-day talks was made public — he was sometimes seen chatting with Mr.

“The very principle on which your Congress was founded – no taxation without representation – was a fundamental disagreement between us, and at the same time it was the value of shared democracy that you won from us,” said the king when he spoke to Congress on Tuesday afternoon. “Ours is a partnership born out of conflict.”

He drew applause when he talked about how the idea of ​​checks and balances in American government comes from British history. Charles said the US Supreme Court Historical Society found that Magna Carta has been cited in at least 160 Supreme Court cases since 1789, “at least as a basis for the principle that executive power is subject to checks and balances.” Mr. Trump has worked to greatly expand executive power.

He spoke of the United States’ “natural wonders” and “our shared responsibility to protect the environment, our most precious and irreplaceable asset.” Charles is a passionate naturalist; Mr. Trump, by contrast, withdrew from the Paris Agreement on climate change, making the United States the only country in the world to abandon international commitments to limit global warming.

Charles seemed to notice that Mr. Trump has again disparaged Mr Starmer as a coward and mocked Britain’s military might.

The King spoke of his own service in the Royal Army more than half a century ago and repeated Mr. Starmer that Britain was “committed to the biggest ever increase in defense spending since the Cold War.”

He also pushed back, gently, on Mr. Trump on Britain and the NATO alliance for not entering the war with Iran. After the September 11, 2001 attacks, the king told lawmakers, “We answered the call together – as our people have done for over a century.”

Although it is not clear whether the king’s request will be enough to repair the wounds in the trans-Atlantic relationship, Mr. Dickinson said the British may be hoping the visit will pave the way for recovery.

“That’s why the government values ​​the royal family as a diplomatic officer on hand,” he said. “It’s not a magic wand but it helps.”