(The Center Square) – For the first time in nearly 20 years, the sitting British monarch, King Charles III, and his wife, Queen Camilla, are visiting Washington, D.C., in honor of America’s 250th year of independence from the British crown.
President Donald Trump noted the irony in a speech Tuesday paying tribute to the royal couple and the shared heritage of the two nations. The South entrance to the White House flew British and American flags Tuesday as a military band played the British and American national anthems. There was even a performance from a group that appeared to be dressed like redcoats.
“Here in the shadows of monuments to George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, honoring the British king might seem an ironic beginning to our celebration of 250 years of American independence. But in fact, no tribute could be more appropriate,” Trump said. “For nearly two centuries before the revolution, this land was settled and forged by men, women who bore in their souls the blood and noble spirit of the British. Here on a wild and untamed continent, they set loose the ancient English love of liberty and Great Britain's distinctive sense of glory, destiny and pride.”
The last visit from a sitting British monarch was when Queen Elizabeth II visited former President George W. Bush in 2007. Charles and Camilla arrived Monday afternoon and will leave on Thursday.
Despite a sometimes tense relationship with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, the president and first lady have enjoyed a seemingly warm relationship with British royalty. During Starmer’s first visit in D.C. with Trump, he conveyed a letter from Charles inviting the president and first lady for a state visit. The invitation was historic, as the Trumps had completed their first state visit in 2019, when Elizabeth invited them to the U.K. for a three-day stay. In September, the Trumps visited the U.K. again on their second state visit, the first time an American president was hosted for two state visits.
“The American patriots who pledged their lives to independence in 1776 were the heirs to this majestic inheritance,” Trump continued Tuesday. “Fate drew a long arc from the meadow at Runnymede to the streets of Philadelphia that ran through the lives of people born and bred on the British code that no man should be denied either justice or right.”
Charles is set to deliver a speech to Congress at 3 p.m., the first time a British monarch has addressed the American legislature since 1991.
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