2 min readApr 30, 2026 06:15 AM IST First published on: Apr 30, 2026 at 06:15 AM ISTFor years, it was rumoured that when Charles, Prince of Wales, ascended the throne, he would choose to reign under one of his middle names. Had he done so, it might have made Tuesday’s moment a little too perfect: King George VII addressing the United States Congress on, among other things, democracy, liberty, the rule of law, and checks and balances on the power of the executive — and receiving several standing ovations. Not to be outdone on matters of irony, the White House later posted a photograph of King Charles and US President Donald Trump on X, with the caption, “TWO KINGS”.Charles’s speech to Congress, far more political than one might expect of a constitutional monarch in normal circumstances, was leavened with humour. It highlighted the value of several of the Trump administration’s favourite punching bags: NATO, the Royal Navy, Ukraine, and the environment. Most appropriate of all — in an era when Ukrainian officials are floating the idea of renaming part of the Donbas “Donnyland” — was the King’s gift to the President: The bell from the World War II-era submarine HMS Trump. It rings in the new old world, where kings pay tribute to emperors.AdvertisementThis overt reliance on the King as a diplomat comes at a time when the Keir Starmer-led government in the UK, and its foreign-policy apparatus in particular, are in turmoil over the never-ending Peter Mandelson saga. But Charles III showed he was prepared for the job; as Trump said, “He got the Democrats to stand — I’ve never been able to do that.”