Buckingham Palace announced on Tuesday that King Charles and Queen Camilla will make a state visit to the United States in late April, marking the first time Charles has traveled to America as monarch. The visit, scheduled from April 27 to April 30, is intended to commemorate the 250th anniversary of American independence and comes as President Trump contends with sagging approval ratings at home.
Trump confirmed the details on Truth Social, announcing that the trip would include a banquet dinner at the White House on the evening of April 28, according to The Daily Beast. The occasion will carry heavy symbolic weight, arriving just days before the nation’s semiquincentennial celebrations and representing a rare convergence of British royalty and American pageantry on the world stage.
Charles is no stranger to the United States. As Prince of Wales, he visited the country 19 times over the course of decades. But this trip carries a different gravity. The last state visit to the U.S. by a British monarch was in 2007, when Queen Elizabeth II made the journey — the fourth and final official American visit of her reign, following earlier trips in 1957, 1976, and 1991, as the Detroit News reported.
Buckingham Palace stated the trip was being made on the advice of the British government. British Ambassador to the United States Christian Turner said in a statement that the King and Queen had accepted Trump’s invitation to make a state visit in the landmark 250th year, according to UPI. The visit represents a reciprocal gesture after King Charles hosted Trump for a state visit in Windsor, England, in September 2025, which included a carriage ride and a state banquet at Windsor Castle.
Following the American leg of the trip, King Charles and Queen Camilla will travel to Bermuda. Meanwhile, sources told CBS News that King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands would also visit Washington and stay at the White House in June, suggesting a broader diplomatic push by the Trump administration to host foreign heads of state.
The royal visit arrives at a turbulent moment for the president. A Reuters/Ipsos poll found Trump’s job approval rating fell to 36 percent, with 62 percent of respondents disapproving of his performance. That survey gathered responses from 1,272 U.S. adults from March 20 to 23, with a margin of error of approximately 3 percentage points, as The Hill reported. A Fox News poll showed Trump with a 59 percent disapproval rating, described as the highest figure of his second term.
Much of the public discontent appears tied to the conflict with Iran. According to NPR, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found that 61 percent of respondents actively disapprove of the war with Iran, up 18 percentage points from the earliest days of the conflict. A separate AP-NORC poll found that about 59 percent of Americans said U.S. military action in Iran has been excessive, while only about 35 percent held a positive view of Trump’s handling of the situation, as PBS News reported. That same poll found 45 percent of Americans are extremely or very concerned about affording gas in the next few months, up from 30 percent in a poll conducted shortly after Trump won reelection.
Not everyone is enthusiastic about the royal visit proceeding as planned. Labour MP Emily Thornberry publicly questioned whether the trip should go forward, saying on the BBC that it might be safer to delay it, according to CNN. Her concerns reflected broader unease in some British political circles about the timing amid ongoing geopolitical tensions.
The visit also intersects with a difficult chapter for the royal family. In October 2025, King Charles stripped his younger brother of his royal titles, and he became known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested in February 2026 for suspected misconduct in public office after revelations in the Epstein files. Peter Mandelson, the UK’s former ambassador to Washington, was also reportedly arrested over suspicion of misconduct in public office in relation to his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
Rep. Ro Khanna recently wrote to King Charles asking him to meet with Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking survivors during the visit, adding another layer of complexity to what Buckingham Palace has framed as a celebratory diplomatic occasion.
Whether the pomp and ceremony of a royal state visit can shift the political landscape for a president facing historically low approval remains to be seen. What is clear is that when King Charles steps onto American soil in late April, the eyes of two nations — and their complicated shared history — will be watching closely.
