King Charles is set to participate in a 9/11 memorial wreath-laying ceremony in New York next week, alongside Mayor Zohran Mamdani, his office announced on Friday. The event will honour the victims of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the Twin Towers, the deadliest assault on the United States.
Among the at least 2,606 people who died when al Qaeda militants crashed hijacked jetliners into the World Trade Center buildings were 67 Britons. Mayor Mamdani’s press secretary confirmed the King’s participation, adding that there would be no private meeting between the two.
The monarch is slated to make stops in Washington, D.C., New York and Virginia during his April 27 to April 30 state visit. During the trip, King Charles will deliver a joint address before the US Congress, the first by a British monarch since Queen Elizabeth II spoke in 1991.
President Donald Trump will meet privately with King Charles, and host a state banquet for the king and his wife, Queen Camilla.
The trip comes amid strained US relations with the United Kingdom. Trump told the BBC on Thursday that he believes King Charles could help repair Washington’s relationship with London. “I know him well, I’ve known him for years. He’s a brave man, and he’s a great man. They would absolutely be a positive,” Trump said.
Mr Trump also warned he does not think Sir Keir Starmer “has a chance” of repairing the relationship unless he changes direction, including cracking down on immigration.
As well as policy differences, the two leaders have been at loggerheads over the Middle East conflict, with the president deriding the Prime Minister as weak and indecisive.
Charles and Camilla arrive in the US on Monday for a four-day visit.
Asked by the BBC whether the King’s trip will help repair strained transatlantic relations, Mr Trump said: “Absolutely. He’s fantastic. He’s a fantastic man. Absolutely the answer is yes.
“I know him well, I’ve known him for years.
“He’s a brave man, and he’s a great man. They would absolutely be a positive.”
In a video shared on X by the US Department of State, Mr Trump said: “I look forward to having King Charles come. He’s a friend of mine. We’ve spoken and we’re going to have a great time.”
Mr Trump also earlier this week waded into the row over Peter Mandelson and his appointment as US ambassador, branding it “a really bad pick”, but added that the Prime Minister had “plenty of time to recover”.
Asked about his intervention and whether the pair can fix their relationship, Mr Trump said: “If he opened the North Sea and if his immigration policies became strong, which right now they’re not, he can recover, but if he doesn’t, I don’t think he has a chance.”
Asked for his response to the President’s remarks during a visit to Kenton United Synagogue in Harrow, north-west London on Thursday, the Prime Minister said: “Well look, I’m the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and I make my decisions based on what’s in the British national interest, and not what other people say or do.
“I’m here to serve the British people always, to have their interests and to make sure that I make the right decisions for them.
“That is why I took the decision that we would not be dragged into the war in Iran.
“That is why I took the decision we wouldn’t be dragged into the blockade of the Strait.
“That is in our best national interest. That is my duty. I will stick to it, and I’m not going to be diverted or deflected from that by what anybody else says.”
Mr Trump also repeated that he was “not happy” with the support offered by the UK during the Iran conflict, which Sir Keir had been reluctant to be drawn into.
He said: “I didn’t need them at all but they should’ve been there. I didn’t need them, obviously.”
“I didn’t need anybody. I wanted to see whether or not they would be involved.”
He described his calls for support as “more of a test”.
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