King Charles III on Tuesday delivered an optimistic assessment of American-British relations at what is arguably their lowest point in decades, telling a joint meeting of Congress that the two countries had always found a way to come together.
“The very principle on which your Congress was founded — no taxation without representation — was at once a fundamental disagreement between us, and at the same time a shared democratic value which you inherited from us,” the king said. “Ours is a partnership born out of dispute.”
Charles did not directly refer to the current tensions between Prime Minister Keir Starmer and President Trump over the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran. Mr. Trump has repeatedly belittled Mr. Starmer as a coward and mocked British aircraft carriers as nothing more than “toys” compared to America’s military armada.
But the king offered a genteel response of sorts. He noted his own service in the Royal Navy more than a half-century ago and repeated Mr. Starmer’s assertion that Britain had “committed to the biggest sustained increase in defense spending since the Cold War.”
He also pushed back, ever so gently, against Mr. Trump’s angry attacks on Britain and on the NATO alliance for not joining in the Iran war. After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the king told lawmakers, “We answered the call together — as our people have done so for more than a century.”
“Our defense, intelligence and security ties are hard-wired together through relationships measured not in years, but in decades,” he said.
The king’s message to Congress is intended to advance his government’s priorities without ensnaring himself in the ongoing disputes between Mr. Trump and Mr. Starmer. Live Updates » | Michael D. Shear, Zolan Kanno-Youngs and Max Bearak Michael D. Shear and Zolan Kanno-Youngs reported from Washington. | Tuesday, April 28, 2026
