On her first trip to the United States as sovereign, Queen Elizabeth II so charmed President Dwight D. Eisenhower that she managed to mend a breach between their two countries over the 1956 Suez Crisis.
Seven decades later, her son Charles will be tested on his first trip to Washington as king to somehow smooth Great Britain’s relations with President Donald Trump, which have been torn by conflicts over the course of the Iran war and the future of the NATO alliance.
Can King Charles III display his mother’s magic?
At stake may be the future of the “special relationship” between the two countries, forged during World War II and now more imperiled than it has been since England defied Eisenhower’s advice and, in a spectacular miscalculation, tried to seize control of the Suez Canal.
As a constitutional monarch, Charles won’t be negotiating the United Kingdom’s role in reopening the Strait of Hormuz, of course, or the configuration of a European security alliance in which the United States seems determined to take a smaller role. Those are the tasks of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his government.
Afterward, the president told aide Stephanie Grisham that their conversation had seemed interminable. “Nothing but climate change,” he groused, according to Grisham’s White House memoir, “I’ll Take Your Questions Now.” Melania Trump had confirmed that with a laugh. “Oh, yes, he was very bored,” she said.
In the wake of Elizabeth’s death, Trump mused about the task Charles faced as king. “She was truly a legendary figure,” he said in a 2024 interview for a book, “The Queen and Her Presidents.” “Time will go by, but it’s not going to be easy to replace somebody like that.”
He added, “Hopefully Charles will be able to have a chance to do that.”
Just a month after Trump’s second inauguration, in 2025, the president was clearly delighted when Starmer delivered an invitation from Charles for a second state visit to London, the first for any president. In his toast at the white-tie dinner at Buckingham Palace, he called it “truly one of the highest honors of my life.”
From Jeffrey Epstein to the Iran war
Charles’ return visit to Washington comes at a time of upheaval.
The British monarchy has been shaken by revelations of misconduct in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal by Charles’ brother, now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor after being stripped of his royal titles. The U.S. presidency is in a state of some turmoil, as well, after Trump’s unprecedented assertion of executive powers has divided the American public and sparked titanic legal battles.
And the war in Iran has not only roiled the Middle East but also had repercussions for the world’s economy and its long-standing alliances.
After decades of being America’s closest friend in the world, Britain now feels compelled to move toward Europe, Starmer warns. “As the world continues down this volatile path, our long-term national interest requires closer partnership with our allies in Europe and with the European Union,” he said after Trump dismissed NATO as a “paper tiger” and said he was “absolutely” considering withdrawing the United States.
It is a time as challenging as any that Elizabeth faced as queen.
“I think the mission remains the same, and I’ve seen Charles since he became king, and he’s trying very hard to make his contribution,” Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state and first lady, said in a 2025 interview. “But it’s a different time, and it’s much less forgiving. Being in any public position in a time of social media is very, very hard, so much more challenging than whatever came before.”
Welcome to Washington, King Charles.
Susan Page is the Washington Bureau chief of USA TODAY and the author of “The Queen and Her Presidents: The Hidden Hand That Shaped History,” published April 14 by Harper.
