THE WASHINGTON POST: King Charles urges checks on executive power as Trump hosts royal visit

King Charles III urged Americans and Britons to draw on their shared heritage to defend democratic values, including checks on executive power, as he exhorted US lawmakers to address global problems collectively in an era of unusually sharp divisions.

In the course of his first state visit to the United States as monarch, Charles stayed scrupulously nonpartisan over the 28-minute address to a joint meeting of Congress.

But he promoted what he described as centuries of common interests, including in areas where President Donald Trump has sought a sharp break from US precedent in his drive to reshape American society and governance.

The US and Britain should defend Ukraine, Charles said. An independent judiciary should deliver impartial justice. Diverse societies make countries strong. Societies must protect the natural world. And the US and Europe should “ignore the clarion calls to become ever more inward-looking”.

Charles is officially barred from engaging in politics and mentioned no political leader in his speech.

The vision of the American role in the world that he outlined, however, stood in stark contrast to that of Trump, who has declared that migration weakens societies, used executive orders to bypass Congress, attacked judges who rule against him, questioned the scientific consensus on climate change and declared his desire to wind down support for Ukraine’s defence against Russia’s invasion.

The speech came on the day the Justice Department brought a new indictment against former FBI director James B. Comey, a long-time Trump target.

As the King spoke, the White House posted an image of Trump and Charles on X, calling it “TWO KINGS,” with a crown emoji.

Drawing repeated bipartisan standing ovations from lawmakers who can rarely agree on even the most anodyne of issues, Charles used his position as a living symbol of a state — not an elected leader — to try to revitalise Anglo American ties at a moment when many on both sides of the Atlantic have sought to turn their backs on each other.

He did so in a gentle enough manner that Trump later declared the speech “fantastic,” noting that “he got the Democrats to stand. I’ve never been able to do that.”

“Ours is a partnership born out of dispute, but no less strong for it,” the King told Congress, becoming just the second British royal to address the chambers after his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, spoke following the Persian Gulf War in 1991.

“Executive power is subject to checks and balances,” Charles said, spurring bipartisan cheers and whistles from his audience at a time when the Republican-led Congress has greatly diminished its power largely by acquiescing to many of Trump’s demands.

He declared his admiration for Congress, which he said represented “the living mosaic of the United States. In both of our countries, it is the very fact of our vibrant, diverse and free societies that gives us our collective strength.”

And, at a time when Trump has repeatedly declared that NATO has not been there for the US and threatened to re-evaluate the US relationship with the defence alliance, Charles reminded his listeners that NATO’s collective-defence clauses were invoked by the US after the attacks of 9/11 and said, “That same, unyielding resolve is needed for the defence of Ukraine.”

Societies also need to deal with “the collapse of critical natural systems,” the king said, invoking climate change without uttering the words.

The speech amounted to a broad defence of traditional American and British values — delivered to a capital where many leaders have reexamined old principles and declared them ill-fit for the modern era.

The afternoon speech came between a pomp-filled morning ceremony at the White House and a glitzy state dinner, the second of Trump’s second term.

The British monarch’s visit to mark the 250th anniversary of US independence has come at the tensest moment in Anglo American relations in generations.

The King, who is on his first state visit to the US since his mother died in 2022, is capitalising on Trump’s long-time fascination with the British royal family.

Trump has attacked British Prime Minister Keir Starmer over his reluctance to join forces with Washington in the President’s attacks on Iran. But Trump has shown no such aggression toward Charles, embracing the monarch and boasting about what he says is their close relationship.

British officials have said they hope Charles can paper over tensions between Washington and London, using his royal razzle-dazzle to remind Trump and Americans of the ties that endure no matter the disagreements of the day.

Trump and other senior administration officials have taken aim at Starmer out of frustration at his government’s initial reluctance to allow US fighter jets to use British bases for strikes on Iran.

British leaders reversed course once the war started, and Iran fired back, saying national law allowed Britain to commit its facilities to defensive engagements, not offensive ones. Starmer has promised to help secure the Strait of Hormuz once the hot phase of hostilities ends.

But there was no such tension directed at Charles. In the Capitol, lawmakers and aides eagerly awaited the king’s arrival, with staff lining up in Statuary Hall to catch a glimpse of him. Once he entered the House chamber, lawmakers pulled out their phones to photograph him as he made his way down the aisle.

Later, in a speech at the start of the state dinner, Charles addressed transatlantic tensions with humor, drawing laughs from the guests — many of whom were top administration officials — when he mentioned the 1956 Suez Crisis as a moment of difficulty between Washington and London.

“When my mother visited in 1957, not the least of her tasks was to help put the ‘special’ back into our relationship after a crisis in the Middle East,” Charles said.

“Nearly 70 years on, it is hard to imagine anything like that happening today.”

Earlier in the day, at the White House, the President welcomed Charles and Queen Camilla with an elaborate outdoor celebration on the South Lawn, as a military band dressed in Revolutionary-era garb played marches on fifes and drums.

The two leaders and their wives stood for their anthems: “God Save the King” and “The Star-Spangled Banner,” which commemorates British bombs bursting in the air during the War of 1812.

Trump — who makes no secret of his regard for pageantry, gold and monarchs — has delighted in the preparations for the visit.

He rushed renovations of the West Wing, including freshly laid black granite in the pathway of the West Colonnade, so that they were ready for the King.

Charles took note at the dinner: “I cannot help noticing the readjustments to the East Wing, Mr President, following your visit to Windsor Castle last year,” a reference to Trump’s demolition of that part of the White House to make way for a ballroom.

“I’m sorry to say that we British, of course, made our own small attempt at real estate redevelopment of the White House in 1814,” the King said, referring to British troops setting fire to the building during the War of 1812.

Early Tuesday, Trump declared on social media that “I’ve always wanted to live in Buckingham Palace!!!” posting an image of a Daily Mail story that claimed to have traced Trump’s lineage back to King James II, a 15th-century ruler of Scotland and distant relative of the current monarch.

But there were no signs he attempted a fresh peace negotiation, as had been rumoured by one celebrity gossip website, between Charles and Prince Harry, the monarch’s estranged son, who lives in the US but was not expected to see his father during the visit.

In the speech at the White House, Trump mentioned British colonists settling across a “wild and untamed continent”.

The revolutionaries’ “veins ran with Anglo-Saxon courage. Their hearts beat with an English faith in standing firm for what is right good and true,” the President said.

Trump spoke in unusually personal terms about his mother’s regard for the British royal family, declaring that Mary Anne MacLeod Trump, a Scottish-born immigrant, admired Elizabeth and had a “crush” on Charles.

His mother was born in the Hebrides islands — “real serious Scotland,” Trump said.

The two leaders swapped gifts, according to the White House and Buckingham Palace: Charles gave Trump a framed facsimile of the 1879 plans for the Resolute Desk that sits in the Oval Office, and the queen gave first lady Melania Trump a brooch made by Fiona Rae, a British jewelry designer.

Trump gave Charles a copy of a 1785 letter written by John Adams to John Jay in which Adams discussed the emotional experience of meeting King George when he became the first US ambassador to Britain.

The first lady gave Camilla six custom silver Tiffany spoons and some honey from the White House beehives.

Security was tight at the White House ceremony three days after a gunman attempted to storm the White House correspondents’ dinner Saturday, but officials said that the King’s engagements would proceed as planned.

Some British policymakers like to boast about a “special relationship” — one that American officials have sometimes said is more special to London than to Washington.

The British ambassador to the US, Christian Turner, acknowledged this year that the idea of a “special relationship” was out of date, according to comments reported Tuesday by the Financial Times.

The idea of a special relationship is “quite nostalgic, it’s quite backwards-looking, and it has a lot of baggage about it,” Turner said, according to a recording obtained by the Times of the ambassador speaking to a group of British schoolchildren in February.

“I think there is probably one country that has a special relationship with the United States, and that is probably Israel,” Turner said, adding that London and Washington have a deep and shared history.

“These were private, informal comments made to a group of UK sixth-form students visiting the US in early February. They are certainly not any reflection of the UK Government’s position,” the British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said in a statement.