President Donald Trump has announced the April dates for the forthcoming state visit of the the King and Queen of the United Kingdom, with the trip to feature a banquet at the White House.
King Charles III and Queen Camilla of the United Kingdom will undertake a state visit to the United States to “celebrate the historic connections and the modern bilateral relationship between the UK and the US, marking the 250th anniversary of American Independence”, it has been confirmed.
The visit is at the invitation of President Trump, who said he wanted to ask King Charles to the United States for its 250th year after he was hosted in London by the Royal couple in 2025. The state visit of President Trump to Britain, which culminated in a grand banquet at Buckingham Palace, was considered to have been a great success and saw President Trump and King Charles exchange speeches of glowing compliments about each others countries, and hospitality.
President Trump said of the forthcoming visit: “This momentous occasion will be even more special this year, as we commemorate the 250th Anniversary of our Great Country. I look forward to spending time with the King, whom I greatly respect. It will be TERRIFIC!”.
That President Trump had invited King Charles for a reciprocal visit was confirmed earlier this month, when President Trump said it would be going ahead and would involve a banquet at the White House. Today, the dates have been confirmed for the first time, with President Trump stating the visit would last between April 27th and 30th, with a “beautiful Banquet Dinner at the White House on the evening of April 28th”.
No further events in the schedule of the visit have yet been announced, but Buckingham Palace separately announced that after King Charles III and Queen Camilla completed their state visit to the United States, they would travel on to the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda in the Caribbean for an official visit, the first by a reigning British monarch in nearly 20 years.
While President Trump may be having difficulties with the British government of Sir Keir Starmer, a left-wing human rights lawyer latterly elected as Prime Minister on one of the lowest British election vote counts in living memory — the President has been persistently clear about his personal affection for the actual non-political nation of Britain and its Royals.
British broadcaster GB News states President Trump said of King Charles last week: “He is a friend of mine, he is a great gentleman. As you know, he honoured me and our country. We had an amazing time.
“I have known him as Prince Charles, I know him as King Charles, I am proud of him… He is going to be here very soon, we are going to have a state dinner, it is going to be great.”
President Trump has enjoyed an unprecedented two state visits to the United Kingdom across his two presidencies, the first and so far only time a leader has been invited to Britain for such a visit twice. Toasting King Charles at the state banquet to mark that occasion last year, President Trump spoke of the “eternal” bonds between the two countries and said:
…a fifth of all humanity speaks, writes, thinks and prays in the language born in these isles and perfected in the pages of Shakespeare, Dickens, Tolkien, Lewis, Orwell, and Kipling… the lion-hearted people of this kingdom defeated Napoleon, unleashed the industrial revolution, destroyed slavery, and defended freedom in the darkest days of Communist and Fascism.
The British people gave the world the Magna Carta, the modern parliament, the scientific method… The British Empire laid the foundations of law, liberty, free speech and individual rights virtually everywhere the Union Jack has ever flown, including a place called America.
…the word special does not begin to do it justice. We are joined by history and fate, by love and language, and by transcendent ties of culture, tradition, ancestry and destiny. We are like two notes in one quart, two verses of the same poem. Each beautiful on its own but really meant to be played together.
The bond of kindship and identity between America and the United Kingdom is priceless and eternal, it is irreplaceable and unbreakable… together we have done more good for humanity than any two countries in all of history. Together we must defend the exceptional heritage that makes us who we are and we must continue to stand for the values of the people of the English speaking world.
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