President Donald Trump isa well-known fan of goldand was gifted an old hunk of brassfrom King Charles III on Tuesdaywhich he may find just as precious as that other precious metal.
The King returned to the White House Tuesday evening for a state dinner tocap off his two-day visit to Washington.He gifted the American president a Second World War-era submarine’s bell, polished to a mirror shine, which had once been part of a British submarine that spent more than 20 years in Australia when the Royal Navy maintained a permanent presence there.
The boat’s name? H.M.S.Trump.
Charles presented Trump with the relic of his Royal Navy namesake as he delivered a toast in which he said he hoped it would “stand as a testimony to ournation's shared history and shining future.”
“And should you ever need to get hold of us, just give us a ring,” he joked.
The King also thanked Trump for his “generous hospitality” during what hesaid was his 20th visit to the United States— his first as the British sovereign . Charles delivered a lighthearted toast in which he noted the construction site on which Trump hopes tobuild his controversial $400 million ballroomafter demolishing the historic East Wing of the White House last year.
Charles acknowledged that he could not“help but notice the readjustments to the East Wing”as he left Trump’s guests laughing with his wry observation that the British had “made our own small attempt at real estate redevelopment of the White House” when troopsset it ablaze in 1814.
The King’s visit to Washington has followed a period of tensions between the U.K.’s Labour Party-led government and the Trump administration. The tensions over the U.S.-Israelibombing campaign against Irancame after the British government declined to participate in the unprovoked war, leading Trump to attack Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer as “no Winston Churchill” and slam the NATO alliance as a “paper tiger.”
In his remarks, Charles noted that Trump had recently accused Europe of being insufficiently grateful for America’s role in defeating Nazism during the Second World War in remarks at the World Economic Forum when he said European leaders would "all be speaking German and a little Japanese" were it not for America.
But the King turned the tension into fodder for yet another laugh line when he pointed out that the British control of most of North America prior to the late 1700s had prevented Britain’s rival kingdom — France — from gaining purchase in what is now the U.S. and most of Canada.
Advertisement
“Indeed, you recently commented, Mr. President, that if it were not for the United States, European countries would be speaking German. Dare I say that if it wasn't for us, you'd be speaking French,” he said, drawing yet more laughs from guests in the jam-packed East Room.
“American leadership helped rebuild a shattered continent, playing a decisive role as a defender of freedom in Europe. We and I shall never forget that,” the King added.
In his remarks, Trump calledKing Charles III’s earlier speech to Congress“fantastic” as he welcomed the royals to the White House for theirstate dinner.
“I want to congratulate Charles on having made afantastic speech today at Congress. He got the Democrats to stand. I've never been able to do that,” the president said at the event.
Trump mentioned the Iran war during his opening remarks, proclaiming that the monarch agrees that the Middle Eastern country can't have a “nuclear weapon”.
“Charles agrees with me even more than I do — we're never going to let that opponent have a nuclear weapon”, Trump said.
He went on: “But our countries have stood together, defiant and triumphant against the forces of communism, fascism and tyranny; together, we have expanded the reaches of human knowledge and endeavored always to make this world safer, more prosperous, more just and more free”.
The white-tie state dinner hosted by Trump came just hours after Charlesused a historic address to the U.S. Congressto offer a subtle but stinging rebuke of Trump’s often-monarchical ambitions — hailing the “separation of powers” that ensured the new union would not wind up with another king lording over the unified colonies all those centuries ago.
Speaking before a rare joint meeting of Congress on thesecond day of his and Queen Camilla’s state visitto Washington, the king had both Democrats and Republicans leaping to their feet, clapping and loudly cheering in response to his thinlydisguised critique of the current presidentveiled in a historical description of the American constitutional system, lauding the foundation of the republic as part of a “great inheritance” passed down from the United Kingdom to the United States.
“Our common ideals were not only crucial for liberty and equality, they are also the foundation of our shared prosperity. The Rule of Law: the certainty of stable and accessible rules, an independent judiciary resolving disputes and delivering impartial justice,” he said.
He added that the “bitter divisions of 250 years ago” had given way to “a friendship that has grown into one of the most consequential Alliances in human history.”
