‘Their Majesties embarrassed’: King Charles’ visit in peril as UK/US tensions rise

The “special relationship” may need some imminent couples therapy. Donald Trump appears to have assumed the United Kingdom would eagerly join his little Middle East escapade, only for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to snub him on the world stage.

Starmer has resisted Trump’s demands to join the bombing campaign, to send British warships into the Strait of Hormuz, and has said, “We will not be drawn into the wider war.” Trump is spitting feathers over this, saying he’s “not happy” with the UK, is “surprised” by them staying away from his war, and of Starmer said: “This is not Winston Churchill we’re dealing with.”

Now, with trans-Atlantic tensions continuing to rise, King Charles and Queen Camilla’s imminent royal visit to the United States is in peril. Senior UK politician Emily Thornberry said postponing the King’s visit may be a necessity:

“If it was to go ahead next month – the dates haven’t been confirmed, but everybody seems to think it’s going to be next month – it would go ahead against a backdrop of a war and that, I think, is quite difficult. The last thing that we want to do is to have Their Majesties embarrassed.”

“A backdrop of a war”

Thornberry explained that tossing Charles into the middle of this situation would put him in a tricky spot, as he may be pressured by Trump into making some kind of political declaration on the UK supporting the US in Iran:

I think it needs to be thought through very carefully as to whether or not it’s appropriate to go ahead now, or maybe have a limited program, or delay it. But we can’t just pretend that there isn’t a background of war. … I suspect it would be safer to delay it, but I don’t know the details.

If the royal visit to the United States really is canceled, Trump won’t be happy. Standard procedure would be a glitzy white tie affair at the White House, which is basically Trump’s ideal night out. Plus, as proven on many previous occasions, he’s a sucker for hanging out with royalty.

This also means that deploying the king is one of the few diplomatic pressure points Britain has over Trump. So, perhaps this is all an intentional tactic to try to preserve what’s left of the formerly close relationship between the White House and Downing Street? Either way, it looks like both King Charles and the British military are staying well away from Trump.