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By Jack Royston
Chief Royal Correspondent
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King Charles III will use an address to U.S. lawmakers to express solidarity, sympathy and support in the aftermath of Saturday's shooting at the White House Correspondents Association dinner, a palace source told Newsweek.
Charles, 77, is preparing to give the landmark speech to a joint session of Congress in which he will walk a delicate diplomatic tightrope, promoting peace at a time of war with Iran and unity in a period of hostility between the U.S. and Britain.
The 20 minute address, though, will begin on slightly safer terrain with words of sympathy over the shooting on Saturday, the third assassination attempt against President Donald Trump since 2024.
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Why It Matters
Charles and Queen Camilla arrived in Washington, D.C., on Monday and shared a private tea with Trump and firs lady Melania Trump but are preparing now for the most significant day of the tour.
The speech to Congress will be a key moment for Charles to try, gently, to push for warmer relations between the U.S. president and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, after tensions over Britain's refusal to join the war in Iran.
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King Charles' Speech to Congress: What to Expect
A palace source has given some indication of what the king is expected to say in his opening remarks to express sympathy to the American people over Saturday's shooting as part of a wider message bringing "the highest regard and friendship of the British people to the people of the United States."
It is a friendship, though, that has some diplomatic strategy behind it and insiders acknowledge the speech is written on the advice of the British Government to reflect the strategic priorities of the U.K.
The language will be Charles' own, but the message while subtle is never the less clear to see. The king will argue that we live in challenging times and that the solution to those challenges is shared democratic values aimed at promoting long term security and prosperity.
Crucially, the king will mention NATO—an alliance that Trump has repeatedly taken aim at as a "paper tiger" because member countries did not join the Iran war. He will mention Ukraine, another issue over which there has been strain between America and Europe related to whether and to what extent Trump's administration should support the country's president, Volodymyr Zelensky.
On the values underpinning the relationship, Charles will promote peace and, though he is unlikely to directly reference the background, it comes at a time when America and Israel have been fighting a war they started in Iran.
King Charles' Tightrope Walk With Donald Trump
In other words, there will be plenty in the speech that could be read as gentle advice from the king to Congress that the president should change course. And that means there is a risk Charles' words could anger the president, if Trump reads them that way.
Advocating for a change of course is, though, fundamental to the king's mission during the State Visit to America.
That said, it is important to keep in mind that the official reason is to help mark 250 years since the Declaration of Independence and the palace will be eager not to sour that objective by sparking a diplomatic dispute.
Patrick Allitt, Professor of History at Emory University, told Newsweek: "The king's had a lifetime of experience in not talking about policy details. I think when he was younger, he periodically did make some rather gauche intrusions into policy questions, particularly about the environment but gradually, he's learned the lesson that his job is to be head of state and not head of government."
Allitt argued the monarchy was a powerful tool for warming up public opinion and said that "because the British monarchy is insanely popular in America, even Trump has got the good sense to realize, 'I can only benefit from showing the king and his wife a good time' and avoiding all the things which have created rancor between himself and Starmer.
"So it's actually a very non-political event, even though people will construe it as being one with political resonances."
"The nature of politics in both countries is that people from different parts of the spectrum disagree about the rights and wrongs of what's happening," he continued, "but I think that the really astonishing part of this whole story is that for nearly 250 years, or since 1815, since the end of the War of 1812, Britain and America have never gone to war against each other.
"And usually when one empire is in decline and another one is in the ascendance, they fight over it but in this case, they never did."
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