King Charles is preparing to cross the Atlantic for what insiders are calling a “high-stakes” visit to the United States â one that could define his reign as monarch.
On March 31, Buckingham Palace announced that the king and Queen Camilla would travel to the U.S. in late April to celebrate the 250th anniversary of American independence. The ceremonial event has received calls to be called off due to President Donald Trumps criticism of the British government for failing to support military operations involving Iran, The Associated Press reported.
The visit will also mark the second time that a British monarch has addressed Congress. The first was the kings mother, Queen Elizabeth II, who delivered a speech at the Capitol during a state visit to the U.S. in 1991.
“The question is, that special relationship that Elizabeth helped forge [between the two nations], does it survive?” Susan Page, author of “The Queen and Her Presidents,” told Fox News Digital. “This is an open question, and the hope is King Charles can do something to preserve it.”
“Queen Elizabeths commitment to the United States came from the beginning,” said Page. “From her father, from her first prime minister, Winston Churchill, who told her to stay close to the Americans. And that is a lesson that King Charles has also learned.”
“There is no relationship more important to Great Britain than its relationship with the United States,” she shared. “And thats been through times of great alliance, as in World War II, and times of great division, as we see now. I think that is part of that King Charles very much reflects.”
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The monarchs visit follows Trumps in September. It was a glittering occasion seen as part of Britains effort to nurture the special relationship between the two countries.
Page noted that all eyes will be on the 77-year-old monarch and whether Charles can bring a sense of warmth and steady diplomacy during a period of turbulence. Its a similar challenge that his late mother faced early in her reign â and overcame.
“Were going to be so interested to see King Charles come to Washington,” Page explained. “Hes been here, of course, many times. This is the first time as king. And Im struck by some of the parallels with the first time Elizabeth came to Washington as queen.”
“That was a point just after the Suez Crisis had really torn the United States and Great Britain, really dividing them,” said Page.Â
“President Eisenhower was quite angry about what Britain had done in Suez. And here this young queen came, her first visit to Washington as head of state. And she was tasked with trying to smooth those troubled waters, which she did. So we look at Charles and his first state visit to Washington as king, and its another fraught time.”
“Theres this enormous division between the United States and the United Kingdom and NATO,” Page pointed out. “Its also a time when has put new pressures on the future of the monarchy.”
In October, the king stripped his disgraced brother, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, of his princely titles after weeks of pressure to act over his relationship with the late sex offender.
“On both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, we see great difficulties, treacherous waters for King Charles to navigate,” said Page. “And the hope, I think, by Great Britain and by many in America, is that hell navigate them in a way that makes things more stable and less divided between the United States and the United Kingdom.”
