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King Charles and Queen Camilla will make a state visit to the United States this spring, Buckingham Palace has announced.
The trip, in April, will commemorate the 250th anniversary of American independence and celebrate the “historic connections and the modern bilateral relationship” between the U.K. and the U.S., the palace said in a statement. It follows an invitation from U.S. President Donald Trump.
“I look forward to spending time with the King, whom I greatly respect,” Trump said on Truth Social. “It will be TERRIFIC!”
This will be Charles’s first official state visit to the U.S. as king, though as Prince of Wales he visited 19 times, including a trip with Camilla in 2005.
Charles will then head to Bermuda for his first visit to a British Overseas Territory as monarch.
Full schedules for both countries will be released at a later date.
Trump criticizes U.K. again
But Trump has repeatedly lashed out at the U.K. and Prime Minister Keir Starmer, leading some members of Parliament to demand that Starmer call off the visit.
The prime minister has shown “a staggering lack of backbone” by allowing it to go ahead, Ed Davey, leader of the opposition Liberal Democrats, said Tuesday.
“To send the king on a state visit to the U.S. after Trump dismissed our royal navy as ‘toys’ is a humiliation and a sign of a government too weak to stand up to bullies,” Davey said, referring to one of Trump’s recent criticisms over the U.K.’s lack of involvement in the Mideast war.
About an hour before the palace’s announcement, Trump again criticized the U.K. and other allies for not doing more to help secure the Strait of Hormuz, the critical oil shipping route what Iran largely closed after it was attacked by the U.S. and Israel.
“You’ll have to start learning how to fight for yourself, the U.S.A. won’t be there to help you anymore, just like you weren’t there for us,” Trump wrote in a social media post. “Go get your own oil!”
The U.K. has authorized the U.S. to use its military bases to hit Iranian missile sites threatening shipping and said previously it is discussing other options with allies, including sending naval ships or mine-hunting drones.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday said NATO countries were supportive of the joint U.S.-Israeli military operation against Iran, even as they decline to get involved. ‘All of the NATO allies agreed with us … and they don’t want to help us, which is amazing,’ he said during an unrelated Oval Office event with Irish PM Micheál Martin.