Ever since Donald Trump returned to the Oval Office, Sir Keir Starmer has relied heavily on the president’s fondness for the royals to help bridge the gap between Downing Street and the White House. So, with the special relationship at its lowest point since arguably the Suez Crisis in 1956, King Charles’ state visit to Washington DC could not come at a more important juncture.
While there are serious question marks over whether Sir Keir is going to survive as prime minister, the impact of the King’s visit is crucial – not only for him personally, but also for whoever leads a Labour government to the election in 2029.
The special relationship has deteriorated significantly in recent weeks following repeated jibes against Sir Keir from the president, including likening him to an appeaser Neville Chamberlain, embarrassing him over Chagos, apparently threatening the status of the Falkland Islands and suggesting the UK could be facing new tariffs.
While Sir Keir cannot U-turn and suddenly support an illegal war with Iran or agree to Greenland being handed over to the Americans, there is some hope that King Charles can make a much more favourable case with this most turbulent of presidents.
President Trump last week said as much when asked about the visit in an interview. Asked if it could repair the relationship, he 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.”
The fact is that Trump revered the late Queen, he loves the royals, he considers King Charles to be a personal friend and, since his meeting in Paris in late 2024, has been having regular private conversations with Prince William.
The royal family’s role, while generally kept at arms length, remains a key part of British diplomacy and works hand in glove with the Foreign Office. Foreign secretary Yvette Cooper’s presence there underlines that.
Trump’s Scottish mother gave him his love for the Royal family and a desire to be close to them and that is playing out as the UK’s most important soft power card in this difficult period.
Sir Keir deployed this to great effect early in the presidency, bringing the King’s invitation for Trump’s second state visit with him on a visit to Washington last year. The UK government got an early trade deal out of it and, until things went off the rails, had support on more complex issues like the handing over of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. Both those issues have spectacularly blown up since, and the trade deals are now looking tenuous too. But at least with trade and defence the UK government must be hoping the King can get things back on track especially now that Sir Keir has Sir Christian Turner, a distinguished career diplomat, as ambassador in London rather than a highly controversial politician in Peter Mandelson.
The visit has been carefully planned to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the US declaring independence from the UK. The point when the two split which, given the state of the relationship at the moment, seems an appropriate analogy.
