Trump calls King Charles a ‘fantastic man’ amid strained US-UK relations
In an interview days away from a highly anticipated state visit by the United Kingdom’s King Charles III and Queen Camilla, President Donald Trump heaped praise on the reigning monarch even as he’s criticized the European country over the Iran war.
When asked in a brief phone interview with the BBC on April 23 if he thought the royal pair’s visit will help repair U.S.-U.K. relations, Trump said, “absolutely.”
“He’s fantastic,” Trump said in response. “He’s a fantastic man. Absolutely the answer is yes.”
“I know him well, I’ve known him for years,” the president continued. “He’s a brave man, and he’s a great man. They would absolutely be a positive.”
The royals’ U.S. state visit will come amid tensions between Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer over Starmer’s reluctance to get involved in the Iran war, and his refusal to let the United States use British bases to launch initial attacks.
In recounting the five-minute phone conversation, BBC reporter Sarah Smith said the president told her that he did not “need” the United Kingdom’s assistance in the joint U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, but that he “should have been there.” Trump also called the ask a “test” of whether Britain would get involved, Smith said.
But Trump hasn’t only expressed frustration with the United Kingdom over the ongoing war. He told the Telegraph earlier this month that he was strongly considering pulling America out of the NATO military alliance because it didn’t join Israel and the United States.
“I was never swayed by NATO,” Trump said in the interview, calling the organization made up of the United Kingdom, the United States and 30 other countries, a “paper tiger.”
Charles, 77, and Camilla, 78, will visit the United States, at Trump’s invitation, from April 27 to April 30. It will be the first U.S. state visit for Charles since he became king in 2022. The visit will take them across Washington DC, Virginia and New York City, and will include a banquet dinner at the White House on April 28.
Charles’ predecessor, his mother Queen Elizabeth II, made four state visits to the United States during her reign: in 1957, 1976, 1991 and, most recently, in 2007. Charles also visited the United States 19 times as Prince of Wales, according to Buckingham Palace.
Contributing: Taijuan Moorman and Brendan Morrow, USA TODAY.
Kathryn Palmer is a politics reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach her at kapalmer@usatoday.com and on X @KathrynPlmr. Sign up for her daily politics newsletter here.
