WASHINGTON — President Trump will “roll out the red carpet” next week to welcome King Charles III and Queen Camilla for a state visit the White House calls a “further extension of a great relationship.”
But the pressure will be on the king to work his royal magic and repair the rift between the president and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer after their very public fissure over Iran.
The four-day visit is packed with events designed to showcase the royals and build good will with the American people. The highlight will be Tuesday night’s state dinner, where most of the president’s children will join business leaders and other guests for an evening meal at the White House.
“It’s our first state visit and obviously the White House loves to roll out the red carpet. It’ll be a great event,” a senior administration official told The Post. “The president has enjoyed a very good relationship with the royals.”
The visit is the “further extension of a great relationship,” the official noted.
King Charles, 78, and Queen Camilla, 79, are officially marking the 250th anniversary of American independence, when the 13 colonies broke away from King George III, King Charles’s five-times great-grandfather.
President Trump and first lady Melania Trump “are the consummate hosts, for whom extraordinary hospitality is a deeply meaningful gesture of thoughtfulness and affection,” Ambassador Monica Crowley, Chief of Protocol of the United States, told The Post.
“They have made sure that every detail has been carefully considered, from the pomp and circumstance of the arrival and farewell ceremonies to the menu and floral arrangements for the white-tie State Dinner to Their Majesties’ stay at historic Blair House.”
The King and Queen will stay across the street from the White House at Blair House, the official guest residence. British and American flags are already lining the street to prepare for the royal welcome.
Before they arrive, an army of government agencies and officials were at work, preparing Blair House and planning each event with military precision. The White House, Office of First Lady, the U.S Chief of Protocol and representatives from the British took into account “practical, diplomatic and ceremonial considerations,” an administration official told The Post.
Blair House, for example, is transformed into the royals’ “home away from home.”
“We usually get a preference sheet from their Embassy, identifying food, beverage, floral and other preferences and see to it that those preferences are taken care of. No detail is too small!” the official noted. “And while those dignitaries are in residence, Blair House becomes temporarily their nation’s property. We place their flag on the outside, indicating as much.”
The visit comes amid tensions between Trump and Starmer. Some in the UK called on the king to cancel after Trump repeatedly criticized Starmer, calling him “no Churchill.” The president has been vocal in his belief that the UK hasn’t done enough to help the war in Iran and has pushed the country to start drilling for oil in the North Sea.
For the king, it will be a chance to put his diplomatic skills to the test — and to soothe the troubled mind of the president.
Odds are in his favor. Trump has long been a fan of the royal family, a trait 10 Downing Street has used to its advantage, having Buckingham Palace host Trump for an unprecedented second state visit last year.
Trump told BBC News the king is “fantastic.”
“I know him well, I’ve known him for years,” he added. “He’s a brave man, and he’s a great man,” adding the king “would absolutely be a positive” for US-UK relations.
Publicly, the visit should go smoothly. British royals famously don’t take questions from the media, giving reporters little opportunity to query the men about the tensions.
Upon their arrival in Washington DC on Monday, the royal couple will be greeted by the president and first lady at the White House where the two couples will have a private tea in the Green Room and the Trumps will give the royals a tour of the newly unveiled White House Beehive, which sits on the South Lawn.
The King and Queen will show their own hospitality by hosting a garden party at the British Ambassador’s residence, which the Trumps are expected to attend.
Tuesday marks the big ceremonial day of the visit: a military review at the White House that will feature the national anthems of both countries being played “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band, with the Presidential Salute Battery rendering a 21-gun cannon salute. The couples will also exchange gifts.
The president and King will then meet in the Oval Office while the first lady and queen hold their own event on the White House grounds. The first lady and the queen will meet with students who are part of Melania Trump’s AI challenge. There will be a demonstration set up near the Tennis Pavilion where the students will learn about American history using AI-enabled glasses to examine artifacts from the White House collection and National Archives.
That afternoon, the king will address a joint session of Congress — becoming only the second monarch to do so — and that evening will be the state dinner at the White House.
Guests at the state dinner include Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, Eric and Lara Trump, and Michael Boulos and Tiffany Trump Boulos.
Melania Trump has personally overseen preparations for the dinner, including the place settings and flower arrangements. The Clinton china will be one of the settings used, but state dinners usually require the china of more than one president due to the number of guests attending.
“In terms of the daytime and evening programming, the First Lady drives all of that: from menu and floral selection to the linens and the evening’s entertainment, etc. – and we support her vision. She has absolutely perfect taste and everything will be gorgeously elegant,” an administration official involved in the preparations told The Post.
The president has lamented that his grand ballroom, which is still under construction, won’t be ready to welcome the royals.
“If I had that ballroom built, it would be filled. I wish we had more seats,” he told reporters on Thursday.
State rooms in the White House can only accommodate around 200 people for a sit-down dinner and British royals are always a popular draw, meaning the administration was getting a lot of requests for invitations.
“We have a little room that’s not big enough to handle what would be a big crowd, but we’re gonna have very great people that love the UK. I love the UK,” Trump said of the dinner.
After the festivities, the king and queen will make a day trip to New York on Wednesday where they’ll visit the 9/11 memorial. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani will join them.
The duo will then split up: the king will go to Harlem to visit a community center for children while the queen will do a reading event at the New York Public Library, featuring Winnie the Pooh, who marks his 100th birthday this year.
Later that day, the king and queen will meet with business and financial leaders. They’ll end their day celebrating the work of The King’s Trust in America, a nonprofit that aims to help youth succeed with educational and employment opportunities.
The Trumps will bid the royals goodbye on Thursday morning in a formal ceremony at the White House.
From there, the king and queen will round out the day by laying a wreath at Arlington National Cemetery and spending the day in Virginia.
The couple will attend a “block party” to celebrate America’s 250th birthday and observe performances by Appalachian cultural groups. The king will then meet with one of the area’s indigenous communities involved in one of his favorite areas: environmental conservation. The queen will visit a horse farm to highlight the ties between the American and British horse racing industries.
Two names not expected to be mentioned during the visit: Jeffrey Epstein and Prince Harry.
Buckingham Palace has said the king will not be meeting any Epstein survivors. The king’s brother, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, was arrested in February on suspicion of leaking government documents to the late pedophile. He has denied any wrongdoing and the king said he wouldn’t meet with survivors while an investigation was ongoing.
And the king’s youngest son, Prince Harry, who now lives in the United States with wife Meghan Markle, will not be getting an invite to any of the royal events.
“I know one thing, Prince Harry is not speaking for the UK, that’s for sure,” Trump told reporters on Thursday. “I think I am speaking for the UK more than Prince Harry.”
He then quipped, “How’s he doing? How’s his wife?”