You know what I’m starting to wonder about? Why we haven’t heard much about the Prince and Princess of Wales’s planned visit to the US, reportedly around the World Cup and the semiquincentennial. It’s possible that planning and gossip has been halted until King Charles and Camilla stagger through their state visit to the US, which will happen next week. But I’m starting to wonder if Charles and Cam are more like canaries in the coal mine, and if their state visit ends up being a fiasco, then maybe William and Kate’s trip will be quietly canceled or adjusted. One adjustment is likely to be “Kate’s health is too fragile to travel anywhere for work (but not vacations) and William just wants to support England in the World Cup.” It would be a lot easier for everyone to just schedule a Peggy-Baby Fists drive-by, you know? As for Charles’s state visit, according to one commentator, Charles is “privately dreading” the whole thing.

King Charles’s upcoming visit to the US to meet President Donald Trump has snowballed into the “biggest test of his reign” so far. The monarch and Queen Camilla will land in the States on April 27 and their schedule includes a private tea with the president and First Lady Melania Trump, but comes amid ongoing and growing tensions over the war in Iran.

According to former royal editor Duncan Larcombe the King is likely “privately dreading” the trip – despite President Trump describing him as “a friend” and a “great gentleman” – and will benefit from the “calming influence” of Camilla.

“This is one of, if not the biggest tests of King Charles since he became monarch, because a historically special relationship is in a perilous situation,” he said. “Donald Trump is openly criticising the Prime Minister, which is something that Charles hasn’t had to cope with before. Donald Trump is his own force and we know how much the royal connection means to him, so the pressure’s on Charles to make this a success, definitely.”

Tensions have been particularly high between Trump and UK prime minister Sir Keir Starmer, with the president calling the UK’s approach to the Iran war “terrible” and labelling the PM as “no Winston Churchill”.

Duncan told the Mirror that Charles will be focussed on performing some traditional royal soft-diplomacy rather than getting embroiled in debates about Trump and and his UK counterpart.

“It’s very hard not to think that privately, King Charles is probably dreading this visit,” he said. “Trump is bamboozled by the royal family, that’s for certain, but whether the feeling is mutual or not, I think we can probably draw our own conclusions….On the royal tours Charles has done with her so far, he has been more laid back, so Camilla definitely seems to have a calming influence on him. I think it’s good that she’s going to America with him, definitely.”

[From The Daily Mirror]

“Bamboozled” is such a hilarious word to use here, and probably quite accurate across the board. Trump IS bamboozled by royalty. As for the woe-is-Charles vibe…as Republic’s Graham Smith noted, either Charles is up for the job or he isn’t. Britons were told for decades that Charles was the most-prepared future-king ever, so prove it. His mother regularly met with and was feted by the worst dictators, fascists and a–holes in the world, and she did it all without an army of royalists crying about how difficult it was for her. Incidentally, I absolutely buy that Charles is “dreading” the visit, but it’s not because of the Baby Fists of it all. It’s because the state visit will likely be overshadowed by questions and protests about Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.