King Charles has invited U.S. President Donald Trump for an “unprecedented” second state visit to the United Kingdom.

On Feb. 27, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer presented Trump, 78, with a letter from the King, 76, inviting him for an official visit. The moment unfolded during a press conference in the Oval Office at the White House, and Trump accepted the invitation on the spot.

“He’s a beautiful man and a wonderful man. We appreciate. I’ve gotten to know him very well actually. First term and now a second term,” the president said in a video shared on X. “Perhaps you’d like to say what that very important paragraph…” and handed the premier the letter.

Starmer, the leader of the Labour Party, said, “Yeah, so this is a letter from His Majesty the King. It’s an invitation for a second state visit.”

“This is really special. This has never happened before, this is unprecedented,” the prime minister continued. “I think that just symbolizes the strength of the relationship between us. This is a very special letter, I think the last state visit was a tremendous success. His Majesty the King wants to make this visit even better than that, so this is truly historic. An unprecedented second state visit, he wants to talk that through with you.”

Trump remarked that the letter “says at Windsor,” which he described “really something.”

Starmer, 62, said yes and asked, “What I haven’t gotten yet is your answer?” which made the room laugh.

“The answer is yes, on behalf of our wonderful first lady, Melania, and myself, the answer is yes,” replied Trump, who entered office for his second term on Jan. 20. “We look forward to being there and honoring the King, honoring your country. Your country is a fantastic country, and it will be an honor to be there.”

A date was not announced for the proposed state visit.

Trump becomes the first elected political leader in modern times to be invited for two state visits by a British monarch.

Queen Elizabeth first invited Trump for a state visit to the U.K. after he was sworn into office during his first term in 2017, but the official state trip was repeatedly postponed amid speculation over the protests he might face, The New York Timesreported at the time. In addition to other controversies surrounding his relationship with Great Britain, Trump sparked backlash in June 2017 after he criticized London’s mayor in the wake of a terror attack there.

Queen Elizabeth met Trump and Melania on July 13, 2018, at Windsor Castle, where the American president made waves by walking in front of the monarch while inspecting the Guard of Honor, widely interpreted as a breach of protocol around the sovereign.

The state visit came to fruition in June 2019 and coincided with the 75th anniversary of D-Day then. The state banquet of the Trumps’ state visit was memorably attended by Queen Elizabeth, then-Prince Charles, the future Queen Camilla, Prince William and Kate Middleton. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle — who had welcomed their first child, son Prince Archie, the month prior — did not attend the diplomatic dinner.

Trump connected with some of the British royals again at the NATO 70th anniversary reception at Buckingham Palace that December.

In July 2024, it emerged that King Charles sent a letter to Trump after he was shot in an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. Trump went on to win the 2024 presidential election on the Republican ticket against Kamala Harris, and crossed paths with Prince William at the ceremonial reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris in December 2024.

The Prince of Wales, 42, represented his father at the ceremony as he further his role as a global statesman, and Trump later relayed that he was charmed by William when they met one-on-one at the U.K. Ambassador’s Residence.

“I asked him about his wife, and he said she’s doing well. And I asked him about his father and his father is fighting very hard, and he loves his father and he loves his wife, so it was sad,” Trump told The New York Postat the time about meeting William. He was seemingly referring to Princess Kate and King Charles’ cancer diagnoses, both announced in 2024. The Princess of Wales has since shared that she is in “remission,” while the King’s treatment is continuing into this year.

 

 

“We had a great talk for half an hour, a little more than half an hour. We had a great, great talk,” Trump said, adding that William looked well and “very handsome.”

“He’s a good-looking guy. He looked really, very handsome last night,” he told the Post. “Some people look better in person? He looked great. He looked really nice, and I told him that.”

“I had a great talk with the prince,” Trump said about the time they spent together.

State visits are arranged as a way for Britain to maintain strong bonds with other countries and are organized in both outward and incoming formats. There’s plenty of pomp and circumstance to the traditional schedules, which typically include a ceremonial welcome at Horse Guards Parade, Guard of Honor inspection, state banquet at Buckingham Palace, speeches and meetings with leaders over a few following days.

Diplomat Charles: UK king’s role in Trump-Ukraine tightrope act

The UK head of state may be politically neutral, but that has not stopped the Labour government from calling upon him three times in recent days to aid international diplomacy efforts.

Charles helped smooth Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s visit to the White House last week before separately welcoming Zelensky and Canadian leader Justin Trudeau to his country retreat in Norfolk.

“It’s slightly unusual, but I think it’s a very good use of the royals,” professor Pauline Maclaran at Royal Holloway University of London said of the flurry of meetings.

“Their big asset is this soft power that they can provide, and I think it was much needed at this time,” the royal expert told AFP.

The 76-year-old monarch appears all-too-happy to play his part, as Britain’s diplomatic blitz over Ukraine sees it emerge from the wilderness of the post-Brexit years to take its place again on the world stage.

“It has been six days of royal diplomacy at its most delicate, deliberate and nuanced,” a royal source briefed UK media on Monday.

The source added that Charles “is very conscious of his responsibility globally, regionally and nationally -– and passionately engaged in all the detail”.

“As a global statesman and a head of state for both the UK and Canada, the king’s role is highly significant, and his majesty is determined to play his part, within appropriate parameters,” the source added.

 

Buckingham Palace never shares information about what is discussed during the monarch’s meetings, but the source said his role “is to offer symbolic gestures, rather than express comment”.

The symbolism was plain to see in the Oval Office last week when Starmer brandished a signed letter from Charles inviting Trump to become the first leader in history to undertake a second state visit to Britain.

In front of the TV cameras a beaming US president read the invitation, said it would be an “honour” to accept, and declared the king “a beautiful man, a wonderful man”.

‘Masterstroke’

That set the tone for a friendly meeting between Starmer and Trump that was devoid of any verbal fireworks.

“It was a little bit of a masterstroke,” said Maclaran, adding that the king’s invitation was “to impress Trump, to show him the greatest respect, and to ease the way for Starmer to negotiate with him”.

Evie Aspinall, director of the British Foreign Policy Group think-tank, agrees that the gesture helpfully played to Trump’s ego.

“He wants to feel big and important, and we can do that” with a state visit, she told AFP.

Charles’s next diplomatic endeavour was much less flashy but sent an equally strong message, the analysts say.

On Sunday, he warmly welcomed Zelensky to his Sandringham Estate in eastern England just two days after Trump and Vice President JD Vance berated Ukraine’s leader in the Oval Office.

According to royal watchers it cleverly symbolised solidarity with British ally Zelensky, but in a low-key way so as not to offend the thin-skinned Trump.

“The royal family was giving their legitimacy to Zelensky at a time where he really needs it with Trump,” said Aspinall.

For Maclaran, it helped portray “equal respect” to both leaders at a time when Britain is trying to bridge the divide between the United States on one side, and Europe and Ukraine on the other.

Charles is Canada’s head of state and Trudeau said he was going to use Monday’s meeting to talk about defending Canada’s sovereignty, as Trump repeatedly calls for it to become the 51st US state.

It is custom that the monarch acts only on the advice of the prime minister in matters involving the Commonwealth nation but some Canadians have asked why the king has not spoken out in defence of Canada.

Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams says Charles must remain wary of becoming too involved in diplomacy due to the unpredictability of the Trump era.

“It’s not only the complexities, it’s the speed at which it moves. It’s very confusing and he’s got to be very, very careful,” Fitzwilliams told AFP.

 

King Charles and Queen Camilla Blow Restaurateur Away with Their ‘Speedy’ Skills

The royal couple was put to work during a visit to an Indian restaurant in London

King Charles and Queen Camilla were all too happy to be put to work during a joint royal outing.

On Feb. 26, the King, 76, and Queen, 77, spent the day visiting local Muslim communities in London ahead of Ramadan, which begins on Friday, Feb. 28.

Their outing included a stop at Darjeeling Express, an Indian restaurant founded by famed chef Asma Khan. The royal couple sat down with Khan to help pack dates to be sent to local hospitals, as the dried fruit is traditionally eaten to break the Ramadan fast at sunset each day.

King Charles excelled at the task, and he even got the giggles when Khan praised his date-packing abilities.

“I didn’t realize the King would be so fast!” she marveled in a video posted to the royal family’s official Instagram, prompting a big laugh from the monarch. “You are packing dates faster than I can seal them.”

Khan added, “I never realized this is a speedy couple,” bringing about another chuckle from those gathered.

Later, the royal couple joined Khan and her head chef, Asha Pradhan, in the kitchen, where they dished out boxes of biryani to be donated to Doorstep, an organization that helps families in the process of finding permanent housing.

In another hilarious moment, King Charles got distracted while visiting with other guests, prompting Camilla to call for him to get back to the task at hand.

“I think my husband is supposed to be doing this,” she said with a laugh in a video posted by Hello! magazine. “Gentlemen, we are waiting!”

The King then met with members of London’s Syrian community at Imad’s Syrian Kitchen. He was introduced to owner Imad Eddin al Arnab, his wife Batool and their daughters: Dana, Lana and Mariam.

Also joining the group were BAFTA-winning filmmaker Waad Jarkas and her medic husband, Hamza Al-Kateab. They made their award-winning film For Sama about the destruction of the Syrian Civil War and dedicated it to their daughter, who was an infant at the time.

The war touched the lives of everyone at the table, including al Arnab, who lost his three restaurants in Damascus and came to the U.K. as a refugee in 2015 with just $15 in his pocket.

King Charles expressed his sympathies as he spoke with the group, and afterward, Hello! reported that al Arnab was left “speechless” at the visit.

“The King knows so much about Syrian cuisine and Syrian culture, Islam and Syrian history. It’s amazing that he cares,” he shared. “This kind of support from His Majesty showed us how much we mean as human beings, we didn’t have such a thing from our previous president.”

“We have high hopes for our new government and for me, as a British Syrian, I hope that these two peoples come together and create a better future,” he added.