Donald Trump’s King Charles Visit Secures Monarchy’s Future, for Now

Donald Trump’s high praise for King Charles III during a state trip to the United Kingdom cements the monarchy’s role in British public life.

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has not exactly been coy about using the royals to curry favor with the White House. In fact, the centerpiece of Starmer’s meeting with Trump at the Oval Office in February was the moment he produced a letter from King Charles inviting the president to the historic second state visit.

And some would therefore be forgiven for thinking the pressure was on for King Charles, Queen Camilla, Prince William and Princess Kate, all of whom played key roles.

Ostensibly, it has been mission accomplished. As one palace source told Newsweek: “There was genuine warmth at all tiers of everyone involved in the state visit from the principals (the royals). You could see the general warmth in the relationship there, right the way down the whole operational cascade.

“We are very focused operationally on making it go as smoothly as possible and it went very well with the support of U.S. colleagues with the result that the program went flawlessly.”

Beyond the royal carriage procession and tiara-infused State Banquet at Windsor Castle, there were bigger picture issues at play, though.

And one major question hanging over the whole affair was whether it would all be worth it. After all, Trump is deeply unpopular in Britain, creating the risk of reputational harm to both the prime minister and Charles should they have groveled only to come away empty-handed.

Such fears, however, were assuaged when Starmer, alongside Trump, signed a major deal to bring in £150 billion (around $200 billion) of investment from U.S. tech companies into the U.K.

And there can be no doubt the royal pageantry was a major sweetener for Trump, who, before he even set foot in Britain, described the goal of the visit: “They’d like to see if they could get a little bit better deal…so we’ll talk to them.

“But primarily it’s to be with Prince Charles and Camilla, they are friends of mine, for a long time, long before he was king. And it’s an honor to have him as king.

“And, you know, I think he represents the country so well. I’ve watched, he’s such an elegant gentleman and he represents the country so well.”

In the aftermath of the visit, political commentators and journalists debated what the success meant for Starmer, whose reputation is deep underwater, while Nigel Farage’s right-wing populist Reform Party would be forecast to win an election if it were held tomorrow.

Less was said, though, about what the political drama meant for the future of the monarchy, given polling data that has shown its popularity has been sliding.

In reality, though, it is King Charles far more than Starmer who may prove the long-term winner from Trump’s two-day visit.

Because the British public has been going through what is described in the media as an “anti-politics” phase, within which both the two main parties, Labour and Conservative, have been hammered in the polls.

And even if Starmer is right that the deal is great news for Britain, it will only save his embattled reputation if the public can put aside their cynicism and see through the haze of other headline-grabbing issues, such as immigration and free speech.

That challenge was perfectly rendered by Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang, who appeared baffled as he tried to sell the benefits of the deal to a huddle of journalists: “You [Brits] just don’t appreciate it. Come on. You’re too humble.”

“This is the week that I declare that U.K. will be an AI superpower,” he said. “And that was the mandate from Prime Minister Starmer. He wants the U.K. to be an AI superpower.”

Meanwhile, the future of the monarchy is not directly in the hands of the public, who have not been offered a vote on its future and would only receive one if it were a priority for a future prime minister.

And that may be the ace in the pack for Charles. Regardless of whether the public supported Trump’s visit (and 45 percent did not), politicians from across the divide and career civil servants in both Downing Street and the Foreign Office will have been left in no uncertain terms that the monarchy has a role to play—and arguably an important one, if it can deliver them an economic boost and a good news story at a time of widespread negativity.

In fact, even after the current government has left office, whether at the next election or some later one, those civil servants will remain in their administrative positions ready to remind future prime ministers and foreign secretaries of the key role the king was able to play.

This is particularly significant due to the recent change in reign from Queen Elizabeth II to King Charles, whose reputation has struggled in comparison to his mother’s since the messy break-up of his first marriage to Princess Diana in the 1990s.

Now, though, he has chalked up a major diplomatic win to rival some of Elizabeth’s biggest accolades.

Do you have a question about King Charles III and Queen Camilla, Prince William and Princess Kate, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We’d love to hear from you.