King Charles III will give a landmark address to the US Congress on his first state visit this month, marking “shared history” and deep ties, Buckingham Palace said Tuesday.
Making his first state visit to the US as monarch from April 27, Charles will address lawmakers from both chambers, accompanied by Queen Camilla, the royal communications team said.
Buckingham Palace said the four-day visit would “recognise the shared history of our two nations” as well as the “breadth” of current ties, with “deep people-to-people connections”.
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The king had faced calls from some British politicians for his US trip to be cancelled or delayed amid open disagreements between Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer over the Iran war.
Starmer on Monday insisted the “very important” visit would go ahead, saying bonds built by the monarchy can “reach through the decades in a situation like this”.
US President Donald Trump has posted on his Truth Social platform that the visit “will be TERRIFIC”.
US Speaker Mike Johnson announced Charles would give an address to Congress on April 28, but Buckingham Palace did not give exact dates for the scheduled speech.
Charles will be the first British monarch to speak to Congress since his mother, Elizabeth II, in 1991, shortly after the Gulf War.
While in Washington, the king and Camilla will have tea with Trump and the first lady, Melania, and attend a state dinner and a military review.
The royal couple hosted Trump for a lavish state visit in September, including dinner at Windsor Castle, a flyover and military parades.
That was an unprecedented second state visit for Trump, who was also hosted in 2019 by the late queen Elizabeth. She last made a state visit to the US in 2007.
Charles, 77, has faced a major crisis over his brother Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, previously known as prince Andrew, who is under UK police investigation over revelations about his links to the late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
A US lawmaker and the family of Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre, who died by suicide last year, have urged Charles to meet survivors of his crimes during the state visit.
But a source told Britain’s Press Association (PA) news agency that “our position is clear” that such a meeting “will not be possible”, citing the risk it could “impact on (police) inquiries, or the proper course of the law”.
