Washington, DC \u2014 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Britain\u2019s King Charles III will emphasize the long history and democratic values his country shares with the United States in an address to a joint meeting of Congress on Tuesday, delivered while relations between the two nations are at an unusually low ebb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He will start his speech, which is expected to last around 20 minutes, by expressing solidarity and talk about how the US and United Kingdom stand shoulder-to-shoulder. He will say that he brings \u201cthe highest regard and friendship of the British people to the people of the United States\u201d as the nation marks its 250th anniversary of independence, and is expected to reference Saturday\u2019s shooting incident at the White House Correspondents\u2019 Dinner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Charles must strike a delicate balance on this state visit. British monarchs are constitutionally bound to remain above politics, able only to represent the UK rather than speak for its government. At the same time, his presence projects a soft power the British government is attempting to harness \u2013 Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper attended Monday\u2019s garden party, where she told CNN the king\u2019s visit was crucial for \u201cpeople-to-people links\u201d between the two nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump\u2019s affection for the glitz and glamor of royalty has made the British monarchy a valuable asset for the UK government as it seeks to maintain the nations\u2019 strong bond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Events like Monday\u2019s garden party, where Charles and Queen Camilla mingled with various guests, and the royals\u2019 private tea with Trump and first lady Melania Trump at the White House provided a classic display of such pageantry. Before addressing Congress, Charles will have a private meeting with the president too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The address will include remarks that will be viewed as an acknowledgement of the recent tensions between the two countries, following a period during which Trump has repeatedly attacked British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his government for not offering their complete support for the US offensive against Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite acknowledging this, Charles will focus on the common ties between the old allies, saying that the foundations of their \u201cdemocratic, legal and social traditions\u201d \u2013 stretching all the way back to Magna Carta \u2013 mean that \u201ctime and again, our two countries have always found ways to come together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He will speak of the military alliance between the two nations, noting that it is \u201cmeasured not in years but in decades.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There will be a personal touch in the speech too. Charles will discuss his own faith and his belief that in the hearts of the two nations lies \u201ca generosity of spirit and a duty to foster compassion, to promote peace, to deepen mutual understanding and to value people of all faiths and none.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And he will conclude by explicitly stating the overarching message of his visit, emphasizing that the two countries\u2019 shared history is one of \u201creconciliation and renewal,\u201d which has engendered \u201cone of the greatest alliances in human history.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Tuesday evening, there will be a State Dinner, featuring toasts from both Charles and Trump.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Washington, DC \u2014 Britain\u2019s King Charles III will emphasize the long history and democratic values his country shares with the United States in an address to a joint meeting of Congress on Tuesday, delivered while relations between the two nations are at an unusually low ebb. He will start his speech, which is expected to last…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aljaazeera.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aljaazeera.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aljaazeera.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aljaazeera.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aljaazeera.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/aljaazeera.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23,"href":"https:\/\/aljaazeera.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21\/revisions\/23"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aljaazeera.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aljaazeera.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aljaazeera.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aljaazeera.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}