5 takeaways as Britain’s King Charles meets Trump and addresses Congress

Niall Stanage

Tue, April 28, 2026 at 10:12 PM UTC

6 min read

King Charles III of the United Kingdom spoke before a joint meeting of Congress on Tuesday, becoming only the second British monarch to do so. The sole precursor was his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, who spoke in 1991.

Charles’s address came at a moment of sky-high tension between the traditionally close allies.

President Trump has repeatedly disparaged British Prime Minister Keir Starmer for what Trump sees as insufficient support for the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. Starmer, for his part, has said Britain has no interest in joining the war or in trying to enact “regime change from the skies.”

Charles’s visit had been billed in advance as an opportunity to lower the temperature.

The day had feel-good elements, but, at its center, the British monarch delivered a more political and pointed speech than most people expected.

Here are the main takeaways.

Charles hits Trump — and Trumpism — with thinly veiled jabs

The biggest surprise by far was that Charles’s speech took direct, if implicit, aim at Trump and Trumpism.

The monarch was, of course, constrained by some diplomatic niceties. But the core irony of the speech was stark: A king was inveighing against the regal, go-it-alone style favored by the president.

Charles at one point noted that the Magna Carta and the understandings that flowed from it were “the foundation of the principle that executive power is subject to checks and balances.”

Near the speech’s conclusion, he cautioned his audience to “ignore the clarion calls to become ever more inward-looking.”

It’s virtually impossible to see those comments as anything but jabs at Trump, who has an enormously expansive view of his own power and whose “America First” unilateralism has alienated some traditional allies — including the U.K.

Charles also made passing reference to values that he holds dear and that Trump notably does not.

The king offered a vigorous defense of NATO, the target of Trump’s recent ire. He alluded to the “disastrously melting ice caps of the Arctic,” even though Trump is famously skeptical of climate change. And he noted that it was vital to work with international partners in order to “stem the beating of plowshares into swords.” The president has largely eschewed such close cooperation.

There were, to be sure, some more conciliatory notes, including an acknowledgement that Britain would have to do more to take care of its own defense — a frequent Trump refrain.

The king also repeatedly emphasized what he sees as shared values between the U.S. and the U.K. Notably, given the tensions between Trump and Starmer, he talked of how disagreement did not have to lead to a rupture.

But make no mistake, this was a far sharper speech — and one much more antagonistic to the MAGA worldview — than most observers expected.

A vigorous plea for Ukraine

The eyes of much of the world are focused on Iran, about which Charles did not say very much, explicitly.

But it was a very different story when it came to Ukraine.

The monarch segued into the topic by recounting instances of transatlantic unity. He cited the response to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and close alliances during the Second World War, the Cold War and the war in Afghanistan.

Then, he added: “Today, Mr. Speaker, that same unyielding resolve is needed for the defense of Ukraine and her most courageous people.”

The comment was met with warm applause in the chamber — including, somewhat incongruously, from Vice President Vance, one of the most prominent skeptics of U.S. aid to Kyiv.

The GOP in general has become far more dubious about maintaining support for Ukraine at the same cadence as during the Biden administration. The party’s attitude takes its lead from Trump, who infamously berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office, alongside Vance, last year.

The clarity of Charles’ remark was striking, underscoring just how wide the gulf is between his attitude and Trump’s to the war sparked by Russia’s 2022 invasion.

No meeting with Epstein survivors

The Jeffrey Epstein scandal has reached into the political world on both sides of the Atlantic. Charles failed to mollify critics on Tuesday when he declined to meet with survivors of the convicted sex offender’s abuse.

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) had sought such a meeting. But, just before the speech, the congressman wrote on social media, “King Charles declined my request for him to meet with survivors. He should, at least, recognize their courage in his speech today.”

There was to be no such recognition.

The core of the issue concerns the king’s younger brother — formerly known as Prince Andrew, now called Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.

Virginia Giuffre, perhaps the best known of Epstein’s victims, alleged that she had three times been forced into sexual encounters with Mountbatten-Windsor, including when she was just 17.

Giuffre died by suicide last year, but, three years prior, the erstwhile prince had settled her civil suit against him. The amount was undisclosed but has been widely reported to run into eight figures. Mountbatten-Windsor denies wrongdoing.

Charles stripped his brother of his royal titles last year and, in effect, evicted him from his longtime home.

But questions remain about what the royal family knew, and when, about allegations against Mountbatten-Windsor. There are even more specific questions about the extent to which they helped provide the funds for his settlement with Giuffre.

A British ambassador in trouble — again

Earlier in the day, there was at least one embarrassment for the British side — from an unexpected quarter.

Christian Turner has only been Britain’s ambassador to the U.S. since February, when he replaced Peter Mandelson.

Mandelson, a central figure in British politics for four decades, was fired by Starmer last September after it became apparent that his links with Epstein were more extensive than had previously been known. Mandelson denies wrongdoing.

Turner, a much lower-profile figure, was widely seen as a safe pair of hands — only for Tuesday’s visit to be marred by the release of remarks he apparently made to high school students in February.

Turner asserted that the U.S.’s real “special relationship” was “probably” with Israel, not Britain. He also suggested that Starmer would likely be removed as Labour leader — and therefore deposed as prime minister — if the party did poorly in local elections set for next month.

A spokesperson for the U.K. Foreign Office said that the ambassador’s remarks were “private, informal comments” and “are certainly not any reflection of the U.K. government’s position.”

A personal twist — from another Trump

Trump and the British monarch, along with their wives, enjoyed a ceremonial welcome at the White House on Tuesday morning.

They took no meaningful questions from the media — perhaps to eliminate the risk of awkwardness arising from any off-script comment from the unpredictable Trump.

Trump did let slip a more charming surprise, however. He noted that, decades ago, his mother “had a crush” on the youthful King Charles.

“I also remember her saying very clearly, ‘Charles, look, young Charles. He’s so cute,’” Trump said .

The president’s mother, born Mary MacLeod, was a Scottish immigrant raised in the remote, windswept Outer Hebrides. She started a new life in the U.S. around 1930, married Fred Trump in 1936, and became a U.S. citizen in 1942.

She died in 2000, aged 88.

“I wonder what she’s thinking right now?,” the president mused on Tuesday.

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