King Charles issued damning warning over 'peril' of US state visit with Donald Trump

King Charles has been urged to not underestimate the power that the Crown has when it comes to charming US presidents during challenging political times.

It comes as he has been told the Special Relationship between the UK and the US is in more "peril" than ever before, and that his upcoming State Visit will see him navigate choppier socio-political waters than Queen Elizabeth II ever did.

The King and the Queen are set to travel to the US this month to accept President Trump’s invitation for a State Visit to Washington. While there, they will also visit Virginia and New York before His Majesty travels on alone to the island of Bermuda.

The visit, which marks the first time the King has travelled to the US since his accession three years ago, comes at a politically fraught time, with conflict raging in the Gulf and the Epstein files having led to the arrest and investigation of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.

The bond between the UK and the US has been known as ‘the Special Relationship’ since Sir Winston Churchill coined the phrase in 1946. However, esteemed US political journalist Susan Page argues that Charles’s current task in maintaining that tie is one few would envy.

“I think the Special Relationship has gotten a little battered,” she exclusively tells the Express. “First over the tariff regime of the Trump administration and then over the war in Iran, and now over the rather serious debate over what position the United States will continue to take with NATO.

“There have been ups and downs in the Special Relationship in the past, like the Suez Crisis in 1957, but the fact is, I don't think there has been a time of more peril for the special relationship than today, going back to its formation, during those dark days of World War 2.”

One challenging US visit for the late Queen came in 1957 in the wake of the Suez crisis. “She came to the US to see President Eisenhower, with whom she had a relationship and a reverence for, and he for her,” Ms Page says.

“She was sent without the guarantee that her soft power could mend the damage caused by the British action on the Suez, but it turned out she could, and even Elizabeth was surprised by the influence she could wield. The president wanted to listen to her, wanted to hear her views, and was so charmed by her that in the aftermath of that, the Special Relationship was reestablished.”

The Suez Crisis of 1956 caused a massive rift. Britain, alongside France and Israel, had invaded Egypt without consulting the US, which prompted President Eisenhower to financially pressure the UK to withdraw.

The young Queen Elizabeth II was just five years into her reign when she went on her diplomatic mission to ease tensions. While the purpose of her state visit was officially to commemorate the 350th anniversary of Jamestown's founding in Virginia, it was clear that one of the underlying reasons was to signal that both nations were ready to move past resentment and reassert their unique and historic connection.

The visit was a huge success and in his state dinner speech, Eisenhower summed up just how important the Special Relationship was. “The respect we have for Britain is epitomised in the affection we have for the Royal Family, who have honoured us so much by making this visit to our shores… I want again to say that my faith in the future of these two great countries and the whole Commonwealth of the British nations — indeed of the whole free world— is absolutely unimpeachable.”