A senior Palace aide has said the King would not automatically rule out an official trip to China, and that courtiers would seriously consider a state visit to Beijing if Downing Street were to ask. The remarks come 40 years after the last state visit to China, made by the late Queen Elizabeth II, and the King has never set foot in the country.
Palace Would Weigh a Request From Government
The aide, who described the King as the Government's "secret weapon" for helping the UK renew relationships with nations where political issues are at play, said any request would be examined carefully. They said: "If the Government said, 'Will the King go to China?' I think you know we think about it very carefully. China is a hugely important country. It's a very complex country."
The aide added that a visit would present logistical difficulties: "It would pose you know a lot of a lot of complexity in putting a program together. There hasn't been a state visit there for 40 years. This is the 40th anniversary of the last state visit."
There is no suggestion from the aide that a trip to China is in the pipeline, only that the Palace would not dismiss it outright were it put on the table. Where the King travels is decided by the Royal Visits Committee, a body comprising representatives from No 10, the Foreign Office and the Palace, based on strategic diplomatic considerations.
Decades of Disapproval
The King's disapproval of the Chinese regime goes back decades. He once privately described some Chinese officials as "appalling old waxworks" and skipped official events during the 1999 state visit to the UK by Chinese President Jiang Zemin. When China was next invited in 2015, Charles attended parts of the visit and hosted President Xi and his wife at Clarence House.
Britain's relationship with China is not straightforward. Beijing is the UK's third-largest trading partner and a strategic partner, but the regime raises national security concerns and unease over its change in approach to Hong Kong.
Earthshot Prize Could Head to China
The Prince of Wales is expected to take his Earthshot Prize, held in Mumbai this month, to China in the coming years.
Since becoming King, Charles's activism on issues such as the environment and social issues has been tempered by his new constitutional role. Five years into his reign, the aide believes a balance has been found, which they described as "being and doing", that does not exceed his constitutional parameters.
"As Prince of Wales he clearly took the view that if [his mother's] job was to be, then his job was to do until such time as he became King," they said. "And one thing I spent a lot of time thinking about before accession was would the doing role just be a being role when the crown came to him, or would there be a way to blend the two? And I hope what we found is a way to blend the two."
The aide continued: "In a completely constitutionally compliant way, and with full support of the government, the King does still engage in issues, not anything which is party political, certainly, but where there is consensus, there is an agreement now that it is perfectly reasonable for the sovereign to do that. Now the late queen didn't do that, which isn't to say one way is right, one is wrong. They're just different ways of doing it well."
Handling Difficult Messages
The aide, who has worked closely with the King for almost two decades, said he noticed "a bit of a transformation in him" within five minutes of his mother dying and ascending the throne. The main change was in how others, heads of state and presidents, now treated him; the aide recalled "a frankness" yet warmth in his conversations with President Trump earlier in the year.
Charles, they said, has a "genius way" of broaching tricky subjects in a way that makes people listen without causing offence. "I hope you notice that when the King is delivering difficult messages, he does so in a very particular tone," the aide said. "For those of you who were in the Congress earlier this year, there is a warmth in his delivery, a warmth in his tone, which, as a professional diplomat I've known for many years, is a genius way of landing difficult issues because people are sort of, you know, reassured a bit by the tone of what you're saying, and then when they listen to the words, they're much more likely to observe them."
Charles already has a number of complicated state visits behind him, from the US trip in the spring to navigating Europe post-Brexit. With the Caribbean completed, it is up to the Government to decide where he travels next.
