King Charles III meets Trump in Oval Office, delivers historic address to Congress in state visit

President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump stepped out of the White House Tuesday evening to King Charles III and Queen Camilla as their motorcade pulled up for the state dinner.

The vehicle arrived just after 7:19 p.m., with Charles and Camilla exiting to greet the first couple. Trump shook the King’s hand while the first lady greeted the Queen with a handshake and cheek kiss.

The four lined up briefly for photos on the red carpet before Trump pointed toward Charles and remarked, “he made a great speech, I’m very jealous,” referencing the King’s earlier address to Congress.

The king responded quietly to the president, and the two spoke for several moments as they stood together before turning toward the entrance.

First Lady Melania Trump was photographed trying on Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses during a joint appearance with Queen Camilla at the White House on Tuesday.

The moment took place during a youth-focused activity featuring Virtual Reality (VR) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) on the White House grounds as part of the state visit by King Charles III and the queen.

The glasses, developed by Meta in partnership with Ray-Ban, include built-in camera and audio features and have been promoted as part of the company’s push into consumer AI wearables.

The White House shared a series of posts Tuesday showing President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, King Charles III and Queen Camilla touring a beehive on the White House grounds during the state visit.

One post featured bee emojis, while another read “BEE BEST," an apparent nod to the first lady’s Be Best initiative.

In one image, a bee appears to land on Trump’s hand as the group looks on. Another shows the leaders gathered around a small, White House-shaped hive in the garden. The posts quickly drew millions of views online.

The moment comes as part of a broader exchange during the visit, which included the first lady gifting Queen Camilla a jar of White House honey, according to materials released earlier by Buckingham Palace.

Buckingham Palace said King Charles III was “deeply honoured” to deliver a joint address to Congress, adding he was “greatly touched by the warmth and generosity of the response he received.”

A palace aide said the King also intended to reference victims of abuse, noting: “It was certainly in HM’s mind to acknowledge victims of abuse, so they are naturally incorporated in this line.”

In the address, Charles said: “In both of our countries, it is the very fact of our vibrant, diverse and free societies that gives us our collective strength, including to support victims of some of the ills that, so tragically, exist in both our societies today.”

The remarks come after scrutiny of the Royal Family’s past ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The king’s brother, Andrew, was stripped of his royal duties and titles following his association with Epstein.

The White House shared a photo of President Donald Trump and King Charles III with the caption “TWO KINGS,” as the British monarch visited Washington.

The post quickly gained traction online, drawing more than 2 million views within hours.

The image shows the two leaders smiling together during the king’s state visit to Washington.

It comes as anti-Trump “No Kings” protests have been held in multiple cities in recent weeks in staunch opposition to the president.

Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., was seen whispering to King Charles III moments before the monarch’s address to Congress, prompting a laugh from the king.

Burchett later told Fox News the two briefly discussed Charles’ Aston Martin DB6 convertible, a rare vehicle associated with the royal.

The light moment came just before the king began his historic joint address.

Fox News' Chad Pergram contributed to this reporting.

The United Kingdom has gifted a bespoke commemorative coin to the American people marking the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence, according to a British Embassy release.

The coin, produced by The Royal Mint, was presented by Ambassador Sir Christian Turner and is designed to reflect the shared history and partnership between the two nations.

The front features a portrait of King Charles III encircled by a wreath symbolizing the U.S.-U.K. bond, with 45 leaves representing American presidents and 10 for British monarchs since 1776, alongside references to the original 13 states.

The reverse shows an American eagle representing freedom and independence, with inscriptions following both nations’ leadership histories.

King Charles III said he and Queen Camilla will visit the 9/11 memorial in New York City this week, ahead of the attacks’ 25th anniversary.

“This atrocity was a defining moment for America, and your pain and shock were felt around the whole world,” the king said. “We will again pay our respects to the victims, the families, and the bravery shown in the face of terrible loss.”

“We stood with you then, and we stand with you now in solemn remembrance of a day that shall never be forgotten,” he added.

King Charles III drew laughter in the House chamber after joking about America’s founding, calling it what Charles Dickens “might have called ‘a tale of two Georges.’”

“The first president, George Washington, and my five-times great-grandfather, King George III,” he said, before adding with a smile, “Please rest assured, I am not here as part of some cunning rearguard action.”

The king went on to praise the Founding Fathers as “bold and imaginative rebels with a cause,” noting they forged a nation grounded in “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

King Charles III appeared to reference the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner on Saturday, telling lawmakers, “We meet too, in the aftermath of the incident, not far from this great building that sought to harm the leadership of your nation and to foment wider fear and discord.”

“Let me say with unshakable resolve, such acts of violence will never succeed,” the king added.

He continued, “Whatever our differences, whatever disagreements we may have, we stand united in our commitment to uphold democracy, to protect all our people from harm, and to salute the courage of those who daily risk their lives in the service of our countries.”

King Charles III espoused the U.S.-U.K. alliance in his address to Congress, quoting President Donald Trump directly:

“The bond of kinship and identity between America and the United Kingdom is priceless and eternal. It is irreplaceable and unbreakable.”

The line drew loud applause from lawmakers across the chamber.

King Charles III received a warm, bipartisan welcome in the House chamber, with loud applause, cheers and a standing ovation from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

Members of Congress, including Democrats like Rep. Ilhan Omar and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, rose to greet the British monarch as he began his historic address.

The room also broke into laughter after the king joked that the U.S. and U.K. share “everything in common… except, of course, language.”

King Charles III is expected to deliver a roughly 20-minute address to a joint session of Congress, according to prepared remarks.

The speech is slated to touch on the U.S.-U.K. alliance, global security challenges and shared democratic values.

Buckingham Palace released details Tuesday of the official gift exchange between King Charles III and President Donald Trump during the British monarch’s state visit to the United States.

The king presented Trump with a framed facsimile of the 1879 design plans for the Resolute Desk, the historic Oval Office desk originally crafted from the timbers of the British ship HMS Resolute and gifted to President Rutherford B. Hayes by Queen Victoria.

In return, Trump gifted the king a custom facsimile of an 1785 letter from John Adams to John Jay, recounting Adams’ meeting with King George III as the first U.S. ambassador to Great Britain following American independence.

Queen Camilla presented first lady Melania Trump with a brooch by British designer Fiona Rae, while the first lady gifted the queen a set of Tiffany sterling silver teaspoons engraved with her cypher, along with White House honey.

King Charles III met with Mike Johnson at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, where the two paused for a brief photo op and press spray with American and U.K. flags behind them.

The king then joined a seated meeting with congressional leaders, including John Thune and Chuck Schumer. Johnson was positioned at the head of the room alongside the monarch as the group convened for the discussion.

Members of Congress and staff gathered around the Capitol for the visit, which marked a key stop in the king’s Washington schedule Tuesday ahead of his historic address.

First lady Melania Trump and Queen Camilla joined local foster children on the White House tennis courts to use AI-powered technology to explore U.S. and U.K. history.

The pair reviewed tablets and walked around the courts while local foster children donned virtual reality goggles and AI-powered gasses.

The first lady and the queen also posed for photos with the children.

The British government advised King Charles III on the language he'll use in his joint address to the U.S. Congress.

"We've been told by the Brits that the king's speech is expected to go about 20 minutes when he's in front of Congress," Fox News' Peter Doocy reported Tuesday.

"It's written with the advice of the British government. Of course the government is separate from the crown, but they want him to help advance their strategic priorities with the U.S. so they write things that they want said in the king's voice," Doocy concluded.

The king's speech comes at pivotal time in U.S.-U.K. relations as tensions broil between President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer over the Iran war and the Strait of Hormuz.

While King Charles III was participating in a historic White House welcoming ceremony Tuesday, Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., was holding his own roundtable featuring Jeffrey Epstein accusers.

Khanna had requested that King Charles III speak directly to survivors, but palace sources told multiple media outlets that the king would not be taking a meeting, citing a risk of tainting ongoing legal proceedings.

Khanna signaled the king could still acknowledge Epstein survivors in his expected address to a joint session of U.S. Congress. "I met with the British ambassador. The British ambassador has suggested that the king will acknowledge the Epstein survivors in his address to Congress today," Khanna said during the roundtable.

Khanna went ahead with the roundtable, which featured lawmakers, advocacy group leaders and survivors of sexual abuse. The event also featured two siblings of Virginia Roberts Giuffre, one of the earliest and most high-profile Epstein accusers who took her own life in April 2025.

Lawmakers in attendance included Khanna and Reps. Summer Lee, D-Pa., Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M., Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., and Teresa Leger Fernandez, D-N.M.

Leger Fernandez was particularly critical of King Charles III.

"A very rich and powerful person is going to speak to the joint session of Congress and he refused to speak to you. But you didn't bow down," she told alleged survivors in the meeting.

Two prominent members of the U.K. crown and government resigned or were ousted as a result of relationships with Jeffrey Epstein.

King Charles stripped his brother, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, of his title as Prince Andrew in October 2025 over his relationship with Epstein.

Lord Peter Mandelson also resigned from his position as a Member of Parliament in February over revelations regarding his communications with Epstein.

Fox News Digital contacted representatives for the crown for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

President Donald Trump implored the United States and the United Kingdom to continue to their shared traditions of liberty and excellence during a speech at Tuesday's welcoming ceremony for King Charles III and Queen Camilla at the White House.

"Today we look back on 250 years. Let us remember what has made our countries the two most exceptional nations the world has ever known. And together, let us go forward with even stronger resolve to carry on our sacred devotion to liberty and to the traditions of excellence that have been our shared gift of all mankind," Trump said.

Celebrating the 250th anniversary of America declaring independence from the British crown, Trump highlighted the oft-referred to "special relationship" between the two states over the years, pointing in particular to a meeting between former President Franklin Roosevelt and former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

"Beneath those beautiful flags, eight decades ago, Prime Minister Winston Churchill and President Franklin Roosevelt famously met on a ship in the North Atlantic to outline a vision for the free world after World War Two. That understanding of our nation's unique bond and role in history is the essence of our special relationship, and we hope it will always remain that way," Trump said.

"The ship where the two great leaders met was called the Prince of Wales, the very title that His Majesty the King held longer than any other individual in British history. And he held it with great pride and respect. It said that when Prime Minister Churchill first met this future king many decades ago, he was so impressed he made the statement 'he is so young to think so much and so well,' and the bust of your great Prime Minister rests proudly again in the Oval Office. We're very proud to bring it back. We brought it back."

Trump ended his remarks by thanking the king and queen. "Your Majesties, thank you once again for making this important visit. We are so honored. May God forever bless the United Kingdom, Great Britain, and Northern Ireland, and may God bless the United States of America. Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you. Thank you," he concluded.

King Charles III and Queen Camilla joined President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump in observing the first-ever Pass in Review at the White House from the Truman balcony.

The Pass in Review is a formal military ceremony where troops march past the commander-in-chief and other high ranking officials or visiting dignitaries to demonstrate their readiness. The White House said Tuesday's Pass in Review involved 300 U.S. service members, with nearly 500 members of the U.S. Armed Forces from all six military branches present at the ceremony --- a historic first for state visits.

In a ceremony welcoming King Charles III and Queen Camilla to the White House, President Donald Trump recognized how a "direct descendant" of King George III will address a joint session of U.S. Congress 250 years after the America colonies declared their independence from the British empire.

King Charles III will become the first British king, and the second British monarch, to address U.S. Congress later Tuesday.

"The direct descendant of King George III will speak to the direct successor of the very body that gathered in Independence Hall on July 4th, 1776," Trump said, pointing to the fact that today's Congress is a successor to the Second Continental Congress that formally adopted the Declaration of Independence in 1776.

"If John Adams and George Washington, or the King's fifth great grandfather, could see that sight, they might be absolutely shocked. But probably only for a moment," Trump continued.

"Surely they would be delighted that the wounds of war healed into the most cherished friendship. Think of that. Very, very long ago difficult war. And yet those wounds did indeed heal into the most cherished of friendships. Most cherished. There would be moved beyond words to know that the soldiers who once called each other Redcoats and Yankees became the Tommies, and the GIs who together saved the free world as brothers in arms and brothers in eternity," the president remarked, referring to U.S.-U.K. cooperation during Word War II.

"And nobody fought better together than us. If they could see us today, our ancestors would surely be filled with awe and pride that the Anglo-American revolution and human freedom was never, ever extinguished, but carried forward across centuries, across oceans and across history, until it became a fire that lit the entire world," Trump stated

President Donald Trump honored the Scottish origins of his late mother, Mary MacLeod, and revealed she had a crush on King Charles III during a White House welcoming ceremony for the king and Queen Camilla on Tuesday.

"My wonderful mother, Mary MacLeod, Mary MacLeod, was born in Stornoway, Scotland, the Hebrides. And that's what they call very serious Scotland. There's no question about it. Some places they say, well, it was it really Scotland? The Hebrides? That's real serious Scotland. That's where they had their greatest of warriors, the greatest of warriors. She came to America at 19, met my incredible father. We loved him so much. We all loved him. We loved her. We loved him. Fred," Trump said.

The president then cracked a joke about the length of his parents' marriage, jesting with first lady Melania Trump that they would be unlikely to match his parents' feat.

"They were married for 63 years. And, excuse me, if you don't mind. That's a record we won't be able to match, darling," Trump said. "I'm sorry. Just not going to work out that way. We'll do well, but we're not going to do that well. 63 years."

He then revealed the extent of his mothers' affection for the Royal Family and for King Charles III in particular.

"And my mother, I just see it so clearly... I told the King that she loved the royal family, and she loved the Queen," Trump said. "And any time the Queen was involved in a ceremony or anything, my mother would be glued to the television and she'd say, 'Look, Donald, look how beautiful that is.' She really did love the family. But I also remember her saying very clearly, 'Charles, look, young Charles, he's so cute.' My mother had a crush on Charles. Can you believe it? I wonder what she's thinking right now."

Prominent business and political leaders gathered on the White House lawn Tuesday morning for a ceremony welcoming the United Kingdom's King Charles III and Queen Camilla.

Apple CEO Tim Cook, who recently announced he'd be stepping down from that role later this year, was spotted in the crowd. Joining him was fellow tech titan Jensen Huang, CEO of AI chip powerhouse Nvidia.

Other's spotted included prominent political leaders. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., was in attendance, as were Reps. Brian Mast, R-Fla., and Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla.

Other political powerbrokers in the crowd included Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster.

The distinguished group joined President Donald Trump's Cabinet ahead of the historic state visit from King Charles III and Queen Camilla, the first visit from a U.K. monarch in 19 years.

Sir Christian Turner, British ambassador to the United States, insisted that the U.S. and the United Kingdom "share the same objective on Iran" ahead of King Charles III and President Donald Trump's planned meeting in the Oval Office.

Turner's comments came on the second day of a historic four-day state visit by the king and Queen Camilla to the U.S.

“On this conflict, let me be clear, we all share the same objective on Iran," Turner told Fox & Friends on Tuesday morning.

"This is a regime that has spent 40 years exporting terror. We absolutely are clear it cannot have a nuclear weapon."

Turner acknowledged a "disagreement originally about the preemptive start to the war," but said "since then, the U.K. has been allowing its bases to be used for U.S. bombers to make defensive strikes." He said the U.K. has had its planes flying alongside the rest of the defensive U.S. systems in the region and "more British fighters fighting every night shooting down drones and missiles than we've had for something like 15 years, and of course, our deep intelligence work."

"We want to see this war come to an end. The president's blockade to try and keep the pressure up and hopefully get a deal that opens the Straits of Hormuz for all of our economies," Turner said.

Turner agreed that Iran has been a problem for the U.K., saying he was the lead negotiators for the U.K. and his country has "been at the forefront of trying to stop this regime exporting this threat that it does."

"These Straits actually for the U.K., we don't get a lot of our oil and gas out of the Straits but of course they're global commodities. So if we're only taking two percent of the gas but everything rises in prices, it's all of our consumers that suffer," he said.

"This is an extraordinary and historic moment we're part of," Turner said before the king's meeting with Trump and expected address to U.S. Congress.

"The diplomacy is actually personal," he said, noting "affection" seen between the king, queen, Trump and first lady Melania Trump. "Of course, that was built on the president's deep affection for his mother, the late queen."

"The queen had a lifelong love affair with this country. Four state visits she made," he said.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer initially rejected a request from the U.S. to use U.K. bases, including Royal Air Force base Fairford, which houses America's fleet of heavy bombers in Europe and Diego Garcia, a U.S. base on a British Overseas Territory in the Indian Ocean, to stage bombing campaigns on Iran. The rejection prompted Trump to harshly criticize Starmer, telling reporters "this is not Winston Churchill we are dealing with."

The U.K. did ultimately allow the U.S. to use Fairford and other bases for "specific and limited defensive purpose." Tensions have remained between Trump and Starmer regarding the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic chokepoint for the world's energy market.

As Britain publicly distances itself from President Donald Trump’s Iran pressure campaign, King Charles III’s upcoming visit is shaping up as more than royal pageantry. 

It may be Britain’s most important diplomatic tool for preventing growing policy fractures with Washington from becoming something deeper."

The British monarch has historically had huge importance in terms of creating personal diplomacy to smooth over ruffled feathers," Alan Mendoza, executive director of the Henry Jackson Society, a London-based think tank, told Fox News Digital, arguing that the crown has often served as Britain’s strategic stabilizer during moments of political strain.

This is an excerpt from a story by Efrat Lachter. Read the full article here.

Many royal watchers say King Charles’ state visit is a test of the "special friendship" between the U.S. and the U.K. — and the monarch is up for the challenge.

Royal broadcaster Neil Sean told Fox News Digital that Charles is navigating a "delicate situation" during the four-day visit, which coincides with celebrations marking America’s 250th anniversary. But as glasses clink and guests gather at the White House state banquet on April 28, the king, 77, is expected to rely on his greatest asset: his signature charm.

"He plans to focus on humor, a trait that dates back to his ancestor King George in the 1700s," Sean explained. "What most people don’t know is that the king is well-read on history. And I’ve been told King Charles finds President Trump fascinating."

This is an excerpt from a story by Stephanie Nolasco. Read the full article here.

King Charles III will address a joint meeting of Congress on Tuesday during his U.S. state visit marking America’s 250th birthday, stepping into a high-profile ceremonial moment as Washington remains on edge over heightened security concerns and tensions tied to the war with Iran.

The four-day trip is stacked with various events and private meetings, and comes during escalating pressure on security in Washington, D.C. following the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner that targeted President Donald Trump and his administration officials. 

Queen Elizabeth II was the first monarch to deliver a speech at the U.S. Capitol during a state visit in 1991, two months after the end of the Gulf War, hammering down the importance of transatlantic alliances in her speech. 

This is an excerpt from a story from Ashley J. DiMella. Read the full article here.

Yesterday's Fox News Digital live blog offers additional coverage on King Charles III and Queen Camilla's state visit.