Charles and Camilla are preparing to undertake their first tour to the US as King and Queen.
The King’s state visit to the US is to go ahead next month as planned, Buckingham Palace has finally confirmed.
Charles and the Queen’s long-expected historic trip to see Donald Trump will take place in late April despite calls for it to be postponed because of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
It will be the King’s first visit to the US as monarch and the first state visit by a British sovereign to America for nearly 20 years, since Queen Elizabeth II’s tour in 2007.
Charles and Camilla will commemorate the 250th anniversary of American independence, attend a glittering state dinner at the White House, and the King will address Congress, the Palace confirmed.
But exact dates and details have yet to be disclosed.
Charles will stop off afterwards in Bermuda – without Camilla – for his first royal visit as monarch to a British Overseas Territory.
US president Mr Trump had already revealed he would entertain the King and Queen with a state dinner, while US ambassador to the UK Warren Stephens said the King had been invited to address both Houses of Congress during his stay.
The late Queen became the first British monarch to address Congress in 1991 when she attended a joint session in the Capitol building during her state visit in aftermath of the Gulf War.
The King’s trip comes in the midst of the Iran war.
Controversy has grown in recent weeks as to whether the royal tour should be postponed or cancelled.
Mr Trump branded the UK’s approach to the Middle East conflict “terrible” and repeatedly lashed out at Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, including describing him as “not Winston Churchill”, with the special relationship between the two allied nations appearing increasingly strained.
Senior Labour MP Dame Emily Thornberry suggested it would be “safer to delay”, warning Charles and Camilla could be left feeling “embarrassed” because of the current crisis.
But Mr Trump’s man in the UK Mr Stephens said it would be a “very big mistake” to postpone the visit, adding it would be a “very meaningful trip” for the King.
Buckingham Palace said: “On advice of His Majesty’s Government, and at the invitation of The President of the United States, The King and Queen will undertake a State Visit to the United States of America.
“Their Majesties’ programme will celebrate the historic connections and the modern bilateral relationship between the United Kingdom and the United States, marking the 250th anniversary of American Independence.
“The King will then continue to Bermuda to undertake His Majesty’s first Royal Visit as Monarch to a British Overseas Territory.”
State visits are rarely postponed, except for security reasons and illness, and the royal family’s soft power diplomacy is viewed as an important and unique way of engaging with the billionaire-turned-politician Mr Trump, who is well known for his love of the monarchy.
Mr Trump declared earlier in March that trip was going ahead and that he was “looking forward” to meeting the King again, and more recently revealed: “He’s going to be here very soon, as you know, we’re going have a state dinner. It’s going be great.”
He added: “He’s a friend of mine.”
The president was feted with a second state visit to the UK, unprecedented for an American leader, last year.
He hailed the King as a “great gentleman and a great King” during his stay, praised the Princess of Wales for being “so radiant and so healthy and so beautiful”, and later said he ate “whatever the hell they served us” at the sumptuous state banquet.
The King’s youngest son the Duke of Sussex, with whom he has had a troubled relationship, lives on the US West Coast with his wife the Duchess of Sussex and the King’s youngest grandchildren Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
Charles’s tour will raise questions over whether he will see Harry, whom he last met face to face six months ago, and reunite with Archie and Lili after four years apart.
