King Charles visits Trump: what are the potential pitfalls for the monarch?

King Charles is ‘probably the one person in the world who Trump doesn’t want to offend’, according to one analyst. Photograph: Kirsty Wigglesworth/APView image in fullscreenKing Charles is ‘probably the one person in the world who Trump doesn’t want to offend’, according to one analyst. Photograph: Kirsty Wigglesworth/APKing Charles IIIKing Charles visits Trump: what are the potential pitfalls for the monarch?The king faces possibly his most important ever speech and a thin-skinned president, in the shadow of the Sussexes and the Epstein scandal. What could go wrong?Caroline DaviesMon 27 Apr 2026 00.00 EDTLast modified on Mon 27 Apr 2026 00.01 EDTSharePrefer the Guardian on GoogleOn his high-stakes four-day state visit to the US, King Charles will have to walk a diplomatic tightrope as the guest of an erratic Donald Trump against the backdrop of Iran and security concerns after Saturday night’s shooting at the White House correspondents’ dinner.Many challenges lie ahead as he takes up his UK government-decreed task to “reaffirm and renew” bilateral ties amid a worsening “special relationship” on the 250th anniversary of American independence.Meanwhile, the ghost of Jeffrey Epstein and the shadow of the Sussexes are never far away.1. Tricky visit with unprecedented degree of difficultyThe contemporary political historian Anthony Seldon said the 27-30 April visit was “obviously beyond tricky” and had a “degree of difficulty” vastly surpassing any official visit since the first one by a reigning monarch, when George VI met Franklin D Roosevelt to persuade him to enter the second world war. “Because you are dealing with somebody who is so unpredictable,” Seldon said.He said relations with the US had gone through difficult periods before: Lyndon B Johnson and Harold Wilson, Richard Nixon and Edward Heath, Dwight Eisenhower and Anthony Eden – the latter leading to Eden’s ousting after the Suez crisis. “So it’s a tense moment. But there have been tense moments in the past. And it will be fascinating to see how the monarch plays it.”Seldon said since Charles was “probably the one person in the world who Trump doesn’t want to offend”, the president would operate “within tramlines”, thus giving the king “more leeway”.On the “most important visit of the king’s life”, Charles could “either be very cautious and safe, or he can remind the American people of the basis on which the United States was formed 250 years ago”, Seldon added. He said values shared with the UK were of a country that moved away from arbitrary power on the basis of separation of powers, with the bill of rights at its heart; individual rights, limited government, rule of law, enlightenment values. Not to mention a shared history stretching back centuries.Prof Philip Murphy, the director of history and policy at the University of London, said the risk was more significant for Keir Starmer than for Charles, particularly after the Peter Mandelson and Olly Robbins controversy. “It’s another aspect of this desperate desire to court Trump and to take really significant risks,” he said.“They’ve risked the prestige of their head of state, they’ve put his dignity in peril by putting him in contact with Trump, who is both hugely controversial and a very tricky person to deal with in public,” Murphy said.2. King’s security taken ‘very seriously’Charles’s visit will have “appropriate security in place in relation to the risk”, a minister said on Sunday after Donald and Melania Trump were…

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