Echo Comment on King Charles’ fraught visit to the US
King Charles also brings presentational problems for Donald Trump because of his association through his disgraced brother with Jeffrey Epstein β a scandal that wonβt go away despite everyone from the British Prime minister and king to the US president wishing it would.
However, for all the risks, for all the downsides in being associated with a president who has got the world into a real mess through his ill thought-out war in Iran, it is right that the visit goes ahead.
There is no βspecial relationshipβ between the countries, but this visit reminds us all of the unique relationship going back 250 years. Presidents, prime ministers and monarchs have come and gone over those 250 years, but throughout that time, Britain and America have shared values of democracy, liberty and freedom β even if, at times, we have struggled to see eye-to-eye with each other about how best to defend those values.
However, through the scope of centuries, we can see that various lows are followed by rapprochements, and it was Charlesβ mother, Queen Elizabeth, on her first visit to the US in 1957, who helped begin a reconciliation after the US had followed to back Britainβs military activities in the Suez.
It will not be easy and there are risks involved, but it is better to be visiting each othersβ countries than indulging in silly spats and name-callings.