Episode
Charles on a mission: Can king's state visit salvage US-UK ties?
- Podcast
- The Debate
- Published
- Apr 28, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 2561
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Summary
Call it the royal trump card: King Charles III has been dispatched to Washington on a state visit at the lowest point in the "special relationship" in at least seven decades. We ask if catering to Donald Trump's enthusiasm for the British crown can dispel the bad blood over tariffs, the war in Iran and repeated jibes by the US president to make Canada the 51st state. Canada is of course a Commonwealth member whose head of state is the same Charles III who's invited to address Congress and feted at a state dinner. Does the successor to Queen Elizabeth II have what it takes to keep a poker face and stick to the script prepared by his prime minister? All it takes is a hot mic moment or a raised eyebrow for the media covering the four-day visit to go into overdrive. Then there's the matter of the king's brother, the former prince Andrew, who's been criminally indicted following the same Epstein files revelations that brought down the UK ambassador to the US , Peter Mandelson . A coincidence of the calendar has Prime Minister Keir Starmer 's former chief of staff testifying on the same day back in London over the bungled vetting that led to the appointment of a former Labour Party insider whose nickname was the Prince of Darkness. Mandelson's reputation was no secret, yet he was appointed anyway. Why? To please Trump. Produced by François Picard, Rebecca Gnignati, Juliette Laffont, Ilayda Habip, Charles Wente.