King Charles III and the Prince of Wales are expected to make separate trips to the US in 2026 as part of a campaign to revitalise a trade deal with Donald Trump, it has been reported.

Advanced talks on a visit by the king are said to be under way, the Times reported. The paper suggested that Charles’s visit to the US was likely to take place in April.

William is expected to make a separate visit to the US later in the year during the World Cup, which will be hosted by the US, Canada and Mexico from 11 June to 19 July.

The visit would be the first by a reigning British monarch since Queen Elizabeth II accepted an invitation from George W Bush in 2007.

Earlier this month, the US paused its promised multibillion-pound investment into British tech over trade disagreements.

As part of the £31bndeal, hailed by Keir Starmer as “a generational step-change in our relationship with the US” when it was announced during Trump’s state visit, US tech companies pledged to spend billions in the UK, including a £22bn investment from Microsoft and £5bn from Google.

But Washington paused the implementation of the agreement, citing a lack of progress from the UK in lowering trade barriers in other areas.

The decision to put it on hold was a blow to the UK government, which touted the agreement as a prize of its intensive year-long engagement with the US to avoid punitive tariffs on British exports. As part of his diplomatic charm offensive, Starmer had hosted Trump for a second state visit at Windsor Castle in September, an unprecedented honour for a US president.

Earlier in December, Downing Street said the government was still in “active conversations” with the US on the tech deal. But the prime minister’s spokesperson acknowledged that “negotiations of this kind are never straightforward”.

Reports suggested US negotiators had become frustrated by slow progress in agreeing a wider trade deal announced in May 2025, when Britain escaped the 20% tariffs that the US president imposed on much of the rest of the world.

Britain’s digital services tax, opposed by Trump’s big tech backers, and the sensitive issue of greater access to British markets for US farmers, are thought to be sticking points.

It is possible that the visit will be timed to ensure that the prince is in the US for Independence Day, the Times reported.

The prime minister is not expected to accompany the king on the visit. Instead, the foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, is likely to attend to represent the government, according to reports.

William is expected to visit the US during the World Cup in his capacity as the president of the Football Association. England’s third group match is being played on 27 June in New Jersey, a week before the 250th anniversary of the US Declaration of Independence celebrations on 4 July.

For the bicentennial celebrations of independence in 1976, the queen and Prince Philip visited Philadelphia, Washington DC and New York over six days. The queen was hosted by President Gerald Ford at a White House state dinner.

Fact Check: Did King Charles III Vow to Reestablish British Rule Over the United States?

A viral social media claim alleges that King Charles III has issued a shocking statement seeking to “reassert British rule over America” and advocating for a “robust return to colonialism.”

According to the circulating posts, the King supposedly remarked that U.S. political figures—including Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, and Stephen Miller—have recently “endorsed a strong return to colonialism,” a sentiment the monarch reportedly said he “wholeheartedly supports.”

The posts further attribute satirical remarks to the King, suggesting that while Britain “lost the colonies because the King at the time lost his mind,” the “tables have now turned.”

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Context of the Rumor

The claim gained traction amid a series of high-profile international developments, including the early January 2026 announcement of the U.S. arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and renewed discussions by the Trump administration regarding the potential acquisition of Greenland—a resource-rich, autonomous Danish territory. This sensitive geopolitical climate provided fertile ground for the rumor to spread rapidly.

The Verdict: Satire

However, a fact-check by Snopes confirms there is no evidence that King Charles III ever made such comments. Neither Buckingham Palace nor any major global news organization has reported on the King discussing a British takeover of the United States.

If a head of state of the King’s stature were to make such a provocative declaration, it would undoubtedly be front-page news worldwide.

Origin of the Claim

The story originated from The Borowitz Report, a long-running satirical column focused on political humor. Its creator, Andy Borowitz, has frequently clarified that his content is purely satirical and not intended to be read as factual news. The Borowitz Report has been the source of numerous similar viral misunderstandings involving American politicians and global figures in the past.

Searches for the specific “quotes” attributed to King Charles III lead exclusively back to the satirical article, with no mentions in any credible journalistic archives. This follows a recurring pattern where Borowitz’s satire is stripped of context and shared as “breaking news,” requiring intervention from fact-checking organizations to debunk the misinformation.