April 28, 2026 - State Visit begins, as the King prepares to address Congress

I'd like to catch up with Simon Marx. He's LBC's Washington correspondent.

Join me now, Simon. Thank you so much for joining us here. Tell us what has happened today.

Well, it's been a busy afternoon, given that it was only James a few hours ago, that the royal

jet touched down at Andrews Air Force Base, whisking the King and Queen straight to the White House.

And there have been some interesting developments. First of all, the reporting pool that always captures

the President's activities at the White House, well, they were kept notably at a distance

away from the King and the Queen and President Donald Trump and Melania Trump when they came out

to welcome them to the South Portico of the White House at such a distance that it's completely

impossible to hear the remarks that were exchanged on the White House South Portico doorstep.

I mean, there are lip readers out there that are suggesting that at one point, President Trump

gesticulated and diverted the King's attention in the direction of the now demolished East Wing,

now a construction site, where he's building his much coveted ballroom. But you'd have to be

a lip reader to be able to determine whether that was in fact what the two men were discussing.

Then they went inside, they all had tea in the green room, then they emerged the Trumps taking

the King and the Queen towards the South Lawn of the White House, the White House kitchen garden,

where a new beehive has recently been placed. There are three beehives there. This third one

has been modeled into a replica of the White House. And again, the pool reporting

grew. We're all kept at a distance. You can see the King expressing interest in the design of the

beehive, but the only audible comments from the entire trip at the White House came when a chef

told the King that tomorrow night when the state dinner is over, every attendee will be going home

with a jar of White House honey. It is, of course, going to take a lot more than a jar of White House

honey to sweeten a relationship between the two governments that has definitely gone off the

rails over the course of the last year. The King and Queen left the White House, headed to the British

Embassy, where, of course, the now disgraced Lord Mandelson was presiding previously. They were

welcomed there by British Ambassador Christian Turner. A garden party was held. We've just seen a

little bit of footage coming in of the King greeting some members of President Trump's Cabinet,

and also the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, who, of course, will be presiding

over the King's speech to a joint session of Congress tomorrow, which is certainly going to be

the moment where we really get the most detailed sense of what kind of message the King is

bringing here. One other little bit of color in the aftermath of the obvious security concerns

that were raised by the attempt on Saturday by an armed suspect to try and gain access to the White

House Correspondence Association dinner in the ballroom of the Hilton Hotel here in Washington. It

was notable on the car journey from the White House to the British Embassy. The King had the

window of the car partially open so that he could wave at onlookers, both on Pennsylvania Avenue,

and then on Massachusetts Avenue, Embassy Row, as the armored limousine headed towards the grounds

of the British Embassy. And the fact that that window was open, and you could clearly see the

King and the Queen on the back seat, with the King's hand coming out and waving, I think, was

an indication that they are certainly comfortable with the level of the security operation that

is being laid on here, because I think under other circumstances they might have kept the window

of that car firmly closed, given everything that we witnessed here in Washington on Saturday night.

Now it has been suggested that there's big pressure, if you like, certainly from the UK coverage,

on trying to fix the relationship with the United States of America. But what's the feeling from

the US side on either what this trip could mean, or how important that relationship with the UK

actually is? Well, you know, it's interesting because we've had several split-screen moments on

American television today, because as all of today's events were playing out, and they were all

unofficial. The official welcome takes place tomorrow at the White House. Officials at the

Department of Justice were briefing reporters about the investigation into Saturday night's attack,

and that was the dominant story this afternoon here on America's cable news channels.

There is, of course, significant interest in any royal visit to the United States,

but the contrast between what we're witnessing here today and over the next four days,

with 1976, the bicentennial America's 200th birthday, when Queen Elizabeth II was invited

to the United States by President Gerald Ford, is I think stark? I mean, at their official

welcoming ceremony, both leaders could perfectly legitimately and falsely pay tribute to a

bilateral relationship that the Queen indicated was the closest relationship between any two peoples

on the planet. I mean, time has marched on. We clearly are not going to be able to hear

confidently articulated. The same cadence is coming from the King and President Trump tomorrow.

There are all sorts of events on the King's calendar, particularly here, that will give him a

chance to deepen the bilateral relationship, particularly meetings that he's going to hold in New

York with the business community. There is a soft power reception, as they're officially calling it,

later in the week in New York City as well, where efforts, I think, will be made to

influence people far away from the White House and outside away from the ears of the President

of the United States. So the focus is on using the King's soft power to try and improve the

bilateral relationship, but as ever with Donald Trump, reporters like myself here are all

keeping a very nervous eye on his social media feed to see if he's going to engage in the usual

kind of non-stop commentary of events and perhaps also engage in fresh criticism of the UK government.

It's only a question of when that happens. Does it happen between now and Thursday when the

royal couple depart? Or does it happen after that? Because, you know, putting the genie entirely

back into the bottle is going to be an impossible task, even for someone with the diplomatic and

soft power capabilities of the King. Just very briefly on Donald Trump. We know of his

huge respect for the late homogeneity of the Queen. What's his relationship with King Charles

and indeed Queen Camilla? What's that like? What do we know about how well they get on?

Well, he always says, Donald Trump, that the King is a friend of his. I mean, there's no

evidence really to support that notion. I mean, they apparently did have a phone call within the

last few days ahead of this visit. You know, we saw warmth on display when the King and Queen arrived

at the White House today. I'm sure there will be more of that tomorrow. But there is a history of

some tension in their relationship over some comments that Donald Trump made publicly here in the

United States after the death of the Princess of Wales and after a couple of other incidents

in the Royal Family's recent history before Donald Trump was dreaming of becoming president of

the United States. I mean, for the UK government and for the Royal Family, the notion that Donald

Trump thinks that he's besties with the King is probably very beneficial and again,

redelent of that respect that he does have and he always cites his mother's respect

for the Royal Family as being a big influence over him.

Just finally, there has been talk about whether the King should meet with Epstein victims.

I mean, it's clearly not going to happen. Is there even any discussion about that or has

all of that been moved to the side to focus on other matters?

Well, no. I mean, there is discussion about it, not least, of course, because I mean,

I suspect to their amazement, the King and the Queen arrived in Washington just hours after

President Trump found himself giving an interview to CBS last night in which he insisted that he is not

a rapist and he is not a pedophile, despite what the manifesto allegedly written by the suspect

in Saturday night's attack claimed in writings that the suspect left behind in his hotel room.

So an extraordinary moment for the King and Queen to arrive. I think we've got to keep an eye on

what happens on Capitol Hill tomorrow because there are some members of Congress, Republicans

and Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, who urgently want the King's brother Andrew Mount

Baton Windsor to assist in their investigation into the Epstein affair. And of course, there's no

sign of that happening. I think it's going to be very interesting to see whether any representations

are made privately or who knows maybe even publicly in the King's direction in that regard. I'm not

sure we are going to get through the next four days entirely Epstein free given the strength of

feeling that exists in some quarters on Capitol Hill. Simon, thank you very much indeed for joining us

live from the United States of America. That Simon Marx, LBC's Washington correspondent,

and as you might imagine, there'll be plenty more from him over the course of the next four days.