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April 28, 2026, 5:48 a.m. ET

Live Updates: King Charles Is Set to Address Congress

The second day of a state visit by the monarch includes a White House banquet. The four-day trip is designed in part to repair strained U.S.-British ties.

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King Charles and Queen Camilla of Britain arrived at Joint Base Andrews near Washington for a state visit to the United States on Monday.

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Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times

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April 28, 2026, 5:48 a.m. ET

Michael D. Shear

Reporting from Washington

Here’s the latest.

Two hundred and fifty years after America declared independence from England, King Charles III, the British monarch, will be feted on Tuesday at the White House and in the halls of Congress as a guest of honor at a time of deep bilateral tension.

On the second day of a state visit, the king will meet privately in the morning with President Trump in the Oval Office for what British officials hope will be a moment of unity. Later, the king will address a joint session of Congress, becoming only the second British monarch to do so, after his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, in 1991.

The king’s message —

describing a history

of “reconciliation and renewal” between the United States and Britain — is intended to advance his government’s priorities without pulling him into the dispute between Mr. Trump and Prime Minister Keir Starmer over the Iran war.

On Tuesday evening, the king and Queen Camilla will attend a banquet in the White House’s State Dining Room. It follows a similar dinner that

the king hosted for Mr. Trump

at Windsor Castle last September.

The royal couple will leave Washington on Wednesday for events in New York City, including a morning visit to the Sept. 11 memorial and a celebrity-filled gala that evening. They will conclude the trip on Thursday with a visit to Arlington National Cemetery and several stops elsewhere in Virginia.

Here’s what else to know:

Garden Party:

The state visit kicked off on Monday with a

garden party

on the sloping lawn of the British Embassy residence, where 600 people, many with a Pimm’s Cup in one hand and an iPhone in the other, gathered to catch a glimpse of the royal couple.

Visuals only:

British officials have been eager to avoid an awkward public moment in which Mr. Trump might belittle Mr. Starmer with the king at his side. As a result, there is expected to be only a brief photo opportunity before their meeting on Tuesday, with no chance for reporters to yell questions. The president, who is usually eager for long televised exchanges with reporters, could still change those plans.

Returning the favor:

At September’s Windsor Castle banquet, Mr. Trump called the invitation “one of the highest honors of my life.” In his toast, the president added that Charles had for decades “epitomized the fortitude, nobility and the spirit of the British monarchy and the British people.”

Beyond Washington:

British officials said the four-day royal trip was designed to allow the king and queen to also spend time outside the nation’s capital. In New York, the king will meet with young people in Harlem, while the queen tours a Winnie the Pooh exhibit at the New York Public Library. In Virginia, the king will attend a “block party” near the Shenandoah mountains and the queen will visit a farm dedicated to the horse racing industry.

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April 27, 2026, 10:26 p.m. ET

David E. Sanger

Reporting from Washington

The British Embassy hosts the royal couple at a garden party.

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King Charles III and the British ambassador to the United States, Christian Turner, pointing, attended a garden party at the British Embassy in Washington on Monday.

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Pool photo by Julia Demaree Nikhinson

It wouldn’t be a royal visit without a garden party.

That is how King Charles III and Queen Camilla on Monday evening began their weeklong celebration of the great alliance that emerged — eventually — from the American Revolution. The garden in question was the sloping lawn of the British Embassy residence, where 600 or so of Washington’s famous and not so famous gathered, Pimm’s Cup in one hand and iPhone in the other, to catch a glimpse of, and maybe a word with, the royal couple.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was there to shake hands with the king and queen, along with Stephen Miller, the architect of President Trump’s deportation program. So was Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and a host of Pentagon officials. And for a few hours there was no talk of the greatest split in British-American relations since the Suez Crisis in the mid-1950s.

The chatter was off the record, to keep the garden party more like, well, a garden party and not a news conference. Only public comments could be quoted, and there were virtually none.

But it reveals no secrets to say that members of Congress, television anchors, political consultants and reporters who only 48 hours earlier had been crouching under their banquet tables in the Washington Hilton after gunfire rang out were all snapping pictures of the royal couple. Many tried, with varying levels of success, to position themselves on the lawn for a quick conversation.

The century-old embassy residence has been the site of many such scenes, even in times of tension. Winston Churchill used to pad through its halls in his socks, and one of his paintings hangs in the library used by a succession of British ambassadors as they sought to manage the special relationship.

Charles stayed in the residence 45 years ago with Diana, Princess of Wales, during their visit to Washington. With Camilla he is staying at Blair House, the official guesthouse across from the White House.

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April 27, 2026, 6:53 p.m. ET

Michael D. Shear

Michael D. Shear is the chief U.K. correspondent for The New York Times. He traveled to Washington to cover the royal visit.

King Charles will speak of ‘reconciliation and renewal’ during an address to Congress.

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President Trump and King Charles III will meet privately on Tuesday before the king addresses Congress.

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Kenny Holston/The New York Times

King Charles III of Britain will acknowledge on Tuesday that his country has had its differences with the United States, but he plans to tell a joint session of Congress that the “two countries have always found ways to come together,” according to a preview of his remarks by Buckingham Palace.

The king’s speech is a centerpiece of his first visit to the former colonies as Britain’s monarch. It comes at a

fraught time for the relationship between the two governments

, with President Trump mocking Prime Minister Keir Starmer for refusing to join the war in Iran.

But in his speech, the king plans to say that the story of the two countries over the past 250 years has been marked by “reconciliation and renewal,” and has produced what he will call “one of the greatest alliances in human history.”

The king and Queen Camilla began planning for their American trip months before the tensions emerged between Mr. Trump and Mr. Starmer. And British officials and representatives of Buckingham Palace have repeatedly said the king does not get involved in day-to-day politics or foreign policy.

But privately, officials have said they are hopeful that the core message in the king’s speech might help to soothe tensions between the president and the prime minister. The palace said he will argue that shared democratic values are woven deeply into the fabric of both countries.

Palace officials said the king will briefly reference the shooting at the White House correspondents’ dinner on Saturday, offering sympathy to Mr. Trump and those who attended.

But he will focus on the things the United States and Britain have done together. In particular, palace officials said, he will speak about cooperation in the Middle East and Ukraine and will take note of the NATO defense pact and the submarine partnership with Australia and the United States.

Mr. Trump has been particularly brutal in his assessment of the British Navy, calling the country’s battleships “toys.” The palace said the king will speak with particular pride about the Royal Navy and its successes.

Mr. Trump has said he is a fan of the royals, often citing the fact that when he was 6, he watched the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, the king’s mother.

The royal couple’s arrival at Joint Base Andrews kicked off two days of pomp and circumstance in Washington. The king, dressed in a blue suit, and the queen, wearing a pink coat dress, listened as the U.S. military band played the national anthems of Britain and the United States.

The king and queen were greeted by the State Department’s top official in charge of protocol. They walked through an honor cordon of U.S. military personnel before heading to the White House for their first formal stop.

There, the royal couple met briefly with Mr. Trump and Melania Trump, the first lady, and

viewed a new White House beehive

.

The hive, on the South Lawn, is shaped like a miniature White House and is the home for two new bee colonies. Mrs. Trump last week unveiled the latest work of presidential apiculture, the science of maintaining honey bee colonies for pollination, honey production and wax.

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Bees flying through the door of a beehive crafted to look like the White House on the South Lawn of the real White House.

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Alex Brandon/Associated Press

The first official White House bee colonies were installed in 2009 by Michelle Obama, the first lady at the time. The bees supported pollination of the White House vegetable garden that Mrs. Obama created as part of her push for healthy eating.

Hives installed by Mrs. Obama support as many as 70,000 bees during peak summer months,

according to the White House

, and can produce up to 225 pounds of honey a year. The Trump administration said

Mrs. Trump’s new hive

could increase production to over 255 pounds of honey annually.

The visit to the White House beehive is a nod to the king’s longstanding interest in environmental issues and conservation.

There are four beehives in the gardens around Buckingham Palace and two more outside Clarence House, the official residence of the royal couple. The

official royal website

notes that the queen produces honey that is sold at the store Fortnum & Mason to raise money for charity.

Monday’s events concluded with a garden party for the king and queen at the British Embassy. The guest list included White House officials like Stephen Miller, the deputy chief of staff, and his wife, Katie Miller; the House speaker, Mike Johnson; and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

The president and the king will have a private meeting on Tuesday before the king addresses Congress in the afternoon. Mr. Trump will host a state banquet for the royal couple on Tuesday evening.

The king and queen will head to New York City on Wednesday morning, where they will lay a wreath at the Sept. 11 memorial and participate in a gala that evening. The king will also visit a youth organization in Harlem, and the queen will participate in an event at the New York Public Library.

On Thursday, the royal couple will lay a wreath at Arlington National Cemetery and travel to rural parts of Virginia.

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April 27, 2026, 6:39 p.m. ET

Katie Rogers

and

Michael D. Shear

Reporting from Washington

White HOUSE Memo

At a moment of chaos in Trump’s Washington, Charles and Camilla make a state visit.

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President Donald Trump and the first lady, Melania Trump, welcoming King Charles III and Queen Camilla to the White House on Monday.

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Anna Rose Layden for The New York Times

When King Charles III and Queen Camilla of Britain arrived at the White House for a state visit on Monday afternoon, President Trump pointed to a large hole where the East Wing used to be before taking his guests inside for tea and a private audience with the

White House beehive.

Presidents use state visits as an occasion to showcase the best of American culture — and, in this case, perhaps, subtly highlight the resilience of a people who, 250 years ago, rose up and wrested themselves from a king’s control.

The shooting over the weekend at the White House correspondents’ dinner has featured the darker side of the United States at a time when Mr. Trump is supposed to be showcasing America’s 250th birthday for the British royalty. For a moment over the weekend, it was unclear if King Charles would travel to Washington at all, before he reassessed and ultimately committed to his plans for a four-day visit to Washington, New York and Virginia.

Threats of violence against public figures in the United States have accelerated so much that administration officials have

moved to live in military installations

out of fear for their safety. The visit has also highlighted the nature of a president who has opted, time and time again, to show aggression rather than diplomacy when on the world stage.

Shortly before the arrival of the king and queen, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, took the podium inside the briefing room to admonish Mr. Trump’s enemies for creating “left-wing cult of hatred against the president,” as she fielded questions and assigned blame for the conditions that caused a gunman to rush toward a ballroom where Mr. Trump was scheduled to address members of the Washington news media on Saturday night.

She also addressed the rampant skepticism and conspiracy theories questioning the events that led to them: “Hopefully people will believe the truth rather than the lies,” she said.

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Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, during a briefing on Monday.

Credit...

Kenny Holston/The New York Times

And Mr. Trump, who appeared relatively unfazed after the shooting on Saturday evening, spent Monday returning to form, taking to the presidential Truth Social account to attack a late-night television host and share pictures of his latest construction project, which

entails cleaning large amounts of goose excrement

out of the reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial.

This all complicates the unofficial diplomatic mission that lies ahead for King Charles, who will try to soothe ruffled feathers in a relationship between Mr. Trump and Prime Minister Keir Starmer that has gone south rapidly over the last several months.

Early in Mr. Trump’s second term, Mr. Starmer tried heaping praise on the president, even once bending down to pick up papers the president dropped on the ground. But more recently, the prime minister’s decision not to join the U.S.-Israel war in Iran has darkened Mr. Trump’s mood. The president has called Mr. Starmer a coward for not entering the fight and has belittled the British navy.

More recently, a memo drafted at the Pentagon suggested that the Trump administration could stop supporting British sovereignty over the Falkland Islands.

The conflict has also strained the so-called “special relationship” between the two countries. Officially, the king is above all of that, and few people on either side of the Atlantic expect the monarch to engage in a war of words with Mr. Trump. But privately, many British officials hope that this week’s visit could help charm the president into softening his tone.

While they are in the United States, the royal couple will be under protection by the Secret Service, at a moment when there are new questions about the agency’s ability and capacity to protect public figures in an age of rising threats.

“In some ways I am surprised that the Secret Service would say, ‘Yes, come ahead, King Charles, it’ll be fine,’ and it’s a little bit surprising that he wanted to come,” said Barbara Perry, a presidential historian at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center. “On the other hand, this will be a way for him to prove that we have this bond and at that, despite what happened on Saturday night, he is willing to come and possibly risk his life.”

Image

The King and Queen arriving at Joint Base Andrews on Monday afternoon. The U.S. Secret Service is providing security for the Royal couple during the state visit.

Credit...

Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times

The king and queen hosted Mr. Trump for a state visit last September,

treating the president to a royal banquet

and an overnight stay in Windsor Castle. Mr. Trump, a former hotelier, is looking to return the lavish favor.

White House officials were initially planning for the king and queen to stay in the White House residence, according to two officials familiar with the planning, where King Charles’s mother and father, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, once stayed during a visit in 1957. In the end, the royals have opted to stay across the street at Blair House, which is larger and reserved for visiting dignitaries.

The schedule released by the White House ahead of the visit illustrated how sequestered the Trumps have become amid heightened fears about their safety. For past state visits, Mr. Trump has traveled the country — or at least left the White House — with his guests. In 2018, the Trumps took a tour of Mount Vernon with President Emmanuel Macron of France and his wife, Brigitte Macron, and Mrs. Trump took Ms. Macron to view art at the National Portrait Gallery. In 2019, Mr. Trump visited a factory in Ohio with Scott Morrison, the former Australian prime minister.

This week, the Trumps are not leaving the complex, which Mr. Trump has altered by tearing down the East Wing, festooning the Oval Office with gold and paving over the Rose Garden. Outside of the royal couple’s quarters at Blair House, the bricks in Lafayette Park have been torn out — too easy for protesters to pick them up throw them, the president has said. The fountains in the park have been turned on.

Rather than leaving the White House, the Trumps have opted instead to host “thousands of guests on the South Lawn,” a group that includes members of Mr. Trump’s cabinet. Mrs. Trump will host Queen Camilla and American students at the White House Tennis Pavilion, where the group will use “A.I.-enabled glasses to learn about American history,” according to a release from the White House.

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