LONDON (AP) 鈥� In the world of , it could have been a lot worse.
At Tuesday鈥檚 state dinner honoring and , U.S. President said that during a private meeting earlier in the day the British monarch had agreed with him that Iran should never be allowed to have .
鈥淲e鈥檙e doing a little Middle East work right now 鈥� and we鈥檙e doing very well,鈥� Trump told the audience. 鈥淲e have militarily defeated that particular opponent, and we鈥檙e never going to let that opponent ever 鈥� Charles agrees with me, even more than I do 鈥� we鈥檙e never going to let that opponent have a nuclear weapon.”
While many Britons would agree with the president鈥檚 sentiment, the comment triggered mild consternation among pundits in the U.K.
In Britain, you see, this just isn’t done.
By convention, people aren’t supposed to relay private conversations with the monarch. That is partly because the king has to remain above the political fray, but also because the sovereign doesn鈥檛 have the ability to wade into a public debate and correct the record if he’s misquoted.
鈥淕enerally, as a matter of protocol, I think I would expect discussions between heads of state to be sort of behind the scenes, in those closed meetings, for those to be sort of kept private,鈥� said Craig Prescott, an expert on constitutional law and the monarchy at Royal Holloway, University of London. 鈥淎nd, you know, this was something that the U.K. government wanted to avoid.鈥�
There had been a fair amount of jitters before , which comes amid with U.K. Prime Minster Keir Starmer over his in the Iran war.
Like all royal visits, this is a carefully choreographed diplomatic event carried out at the request of the U.K. government, which hopes that warm relations between the king and Trump, who seems to love all things royal, can help repair the rift.
But Trump is an unconventional leader who has a penchant for breaking protocol, and there were concerns about just what he might say or do.
At least in this case, the king鈥檚 comments seemed clearly within the bounds of existing U.K. government policy.
鈥淭he King is naturally mindful of his government鈥檚 long-standing and well-known position on the prevention of nuclear proliferation,鈥� Buckingham Palace said in a statement designed to provide context to the president鈥檚 remarks.
Prescott said that 鈥渋n a sense, this was always the issue, just what Trump would do or say 鈥� would he put the king in an embarrassing position,鈥欌�� Prescott said.
鈥淵ou always had that sort of issue of what he would post on social media,” he said. “And I think, you know, this could have been much, much worse.鈥�
Before the state dinner, to a joint session of U.S. Congress. The king received repeated standing ovations during the address, which celebrated the longstanding bonds between the U.S. and Britain while nodding to differences over NATO, support for Ukraine and the need to combat climate change.
Now, from the U.K. government鈥檚 point of view, the trip is shifting to safer ground as the king and queen leave Washington behind and head to New York, where the focus will be on the city鈥檚 creative industries, rather than politics.
The most difficult part of the trip may be over, Prescott said.
鈥淚f this is the only controversy arising out of this phase of the state visit, I think overall this has been an enormous success for the king and the British government, because the king was able to make some quite pointed remarks in Congress and it hasn鈥檛 really yielded any sort of negative reaction from the president.鈥�
鈥淚n a sense,鈥� he said, 鈥測ou get the feeling that the king (has) rather charmed Washington with his speech to Congress and, you know, his very witty speech at the state banquet.鈥�
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