Britain's King Charles and Queen Camilla began wrapping up their four-day state visit to the U.S. with a very quick stop at the White House to bid farewell to U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday, having already charmed him at a formal dinner two days prior.
The royal visit officially marked the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence from British rule, with King Charles III making light-hearted remarks about Britain being on the losing side of the American Revolutionary War.
It was also intended to mend what King Charles described at Tuesday’s state dinner with Donald Trump as an “unbreakable bond” and “indispensable alliance” between the two countries.
The relationship has recently been strained after the UK, along with other European allies, declined to join the U.S.-Israeli military campaign against Iran.
It appeared to have worked, with Donald Trump expressing strong approval of King Charles the day after their dinner.
Despite tensions with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, he described Charles as a “great friend” and suggested that liking the monarch could positively influence relations with the prime minister.
Posing for photographs on a red carpet outside the White House's South Portico on Thursday morning, Trump, frequently denounced by political opponents as a would-be king, pointed to the monarch and said: "He's the greatest King, in my book."
The two men, joined by Camilla and U.S. first lady Melania Trump, went inside, came back out five minutes later, and the royals got in their car to tour several sites in Virginia.
"Great people," Trump, who ran on an anti-immigration platform, said toward the departing motorcade. "We need more people like that in our country."
The royal trip has seen Charles draw smiles from lawmakers in the U.S. Congress to young Harlem school children at an urban farm in New York City.
Among the biggest smiles of all came from Trump himself, as Charles revealed a gift for the President at Tuesday's White House reception: the original bell that hung from the conning tower of a Royal Navy submarine launched from a UK shipyard in 1944 and named HMS Trump.
For his final day, Charles is expected to lay a wreath at Arlington National Cemetery, across the Potomac River in Virginia, a sacred site for many Americans where tens of thousands of the country's war dead are buried.
On Wednesday the King and Queen commemorated victims of the 11 September, 2001, al Qaeda attack on New York City, laying a floral bouquet at the memorial where the World Trade Centre's twin towers once stood.
The royal couple are also expected to attend a small-town block party in Virginia to join in what the British embassy called the apparently exotic "North American tradition" of "a 'potluck' meal."
Later in the day, the royal couple will fly to Bermuda for King Charles' first visit as sovereign to the British territory.
Iran and the United States remain at loggerheads over efforts to agree a permanent end to the war in the Gulf, according to a senior Iranian source wh...
Central Asia’s economy has surpassed $543 billion, driven by Kazakhstan’s economic weight, strong exports and foreign investment, while growing tr...
The United Nations refugee agency is planning a settlement and carpet-weaving workshop for Afghan returnees in Kabul as the country grapples with larg...
Disruption in the Strait of Hormuz has increased the strategic importance of Bab al-Mandab, raising fears that instability in both waterways could trigger a wider global energy and trade crisis.
Iran and the United States remain at loggerheads over efforts to agree a permanent end to the war in the Gulf, according to a senior Iranian source who said there had been no progress in talks to revive the interim deal agreed in June and define a timeframe to implement it.
U.S. President Donald Trump has called for Iran to pay compensation for decades of deaths and damage, adding a new demand to peace talks as Tehran seeks compensation and sanctions relief before reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
A criminal court in Damascus has sentenced former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to death in absentia for premeditated murder, torture, arbitrary detention and crimes against humanity, according to Syria’s state news agency SANA.
Millions of people across Spain and Iceland are preparing on Wednesday to witness a rare total solar eclipse, when the moon will pass directly between Earth and the Sun, briefly turning daylight into darkness along a narrow path.
Millions of people across Spain and Iceland are preparing on Wednesday to witness a rare total solar eclipse, when the moon will pass directly between Earth and the Sun, briefly turning daylight into darkness along a narrow path.
Ukraine has agreed to refrain from targeting certain tankers using Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiysk following a request from U.S. Vice President JD Vance, the Financial Times reported, although Kyiv has continued strikes on Russian targets at the port.
Taiwan has criticised a planned joint naval exercise involving China and Indonesia near its eastern waters, describing it as a politically charged move designed to strengthen Beijing's claims over areas surrounding the island.
An overnight Ukrainian drone attack on Russia’s Black Sea port city of Novorossiysk killed an eight-year-old child, injured others and damaged residential buildings, port infrastructure and grain facilities, Russian officials and industry sources said on Wednesday.
Romanian military divers have destroyed two Gerbera-type drones found drifting near the Neptun Deep offshore gas development in the country’s Black Sea exclusive economic zone.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment