This Time, the King’s Speech Was Full of Jokes

LIVE

See more updates from this story

April 28, 2026, 7:45 p.m. ET

Advertisement

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT

You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.

Supported by

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT

This Time, the King’s Speech Was Full of Jokes

Charles III’s address at a joint meeting of Congress on Tuesday sprinkled well-crafted jokes among carefully chosen references to the United States and Britain’s shared history.

Listen

· 3:55 min

Share full article

King Charles received multiple standing ovations and rounds of laughter during his address to a joint meeting of Congress in Washington on Tuesday.

Credit...

Salwan Georges for The New York Times

By

Ashley Ahn

April 28, 2026

Updated

7:40 p.m. ET

See more of our coverage in your search results.

Encuentra más de nuestra cobertura en los resultados de búsqueda.

Add The New York Times on Google

Agrega The New York Times en Google

King Charles III worked the House chamber like a stand-up comedian in a joint meeting of Congress in Washington on Tuesday, cracking jokes and winning over his audience in a strained time in American-British relations.

The king’s speech received standing ovations and laughter across both sides of the aisle as he wielded his British humor like the most genial of scepters.

“This is a city which symbolizes a period in our shared history, or what Charles Dickens might have called ‘A Tale of Two Georges,’” he said, pausing as a wave of laughter rolled through the chamber. “The first president, George Washington, and my five-times great-grandfather, King George III,” he continued.

“Please rest assured I am not here as part of some cunning rear-guard action,” he added. Cue more chuckles.

Charles also made a lighthearted reference to the

“tradition” in Westminster

of taking a member of Parliament “hostage” at Buckingham Palace when a king addresses the assembly, asking Speaker Mike Johnson whether there were “any volunteers for that role here today.” (The custom is rooted in the 1600s, under Charles I, when the relationship between Parliament and the monarchy was particularly fraught. That Charles was beheaded at the end of a civil war.)

There were some gibes about the extraordinary length of British history. Charles noted that the American colonies declared independence “250 years ago, or as we say in the United Kingdom, just the other day,” adding a pause and smiling at the jubilant response.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and

log into

your Times account, or

subscribe

for all of The Times.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber?

Log in

.

Want all of The Times?

Subscribe

.

Related Content

Advertisement

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT