By Jonathan Allen and Maria Tsvetkova
Washington/New York ― Britain’s King Charles and his wife Queen Camilla arrive in New York on Wednesday to commemorate victims of the September 11 2001 al-Qaeda attack on the city, part of a four-day state visit to the US.
The king and queen’s visit to New York follows a packed day in Washington on Tuesday, when Charles delivered a speech to the US Congress, held private meetings with President Donald Trump amid tensions between the US and Britain over the Iran war, and sat down with leaders of the US tech industry.
At a White House state dinner on Tuesday night, Trump suggested Charles told the president he did not want Iran to have a nuclear weapon. The king is not a spokesperson for the UK government and it could not be confirmed that Charles made the statement to Trump.
Downing Street did not comment on Trump’s remarks, but Buckingham Palace said in a statement on Wednesday, “The King is naturally mindful of his government’s long-standing and well-known position on the prevention of nuclear proliferation.”
Britain was one of the countries alongside the US that negotiated the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran, which sharply limited Tehran’s nuclear programmes and opened them to inspectors until Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from the agreement during his first White House term.
Charles and Camilla’s visit to New York comes on the third day of their state visit to the US during a tense time in relations between the US and Britain after Trump has repeatedly criticised Prime Minister Keir Starmer for what Trump said is his lack of help in prosecuting the Iran war.
Lower Manhattan
Charles and Camilla will begin their day in New York with a ceremony at the 9/11 memorial in lower Manhattan, where the twin towers of the World Trade Center were destroyed by al-Qaeda suicide bombers, an attack that killed nearly 2,800 people.
Charles is expected to meet with New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani at the ceremony.
The king will then head to Harlem to visit a grassroots community organisation that created a sustainable after-school urban farming initiative in an effort to combat food insecurity, according to local media. Such projects have been a passion of the king for decades.
Meanwhile, Camilla will celebrate the 100th birthday of AA Milne’s fictional character Winnie-the-Pooh on behalf of her charity, The Queen’s Reading Room, which Buckingham Palace is calling a “literary engagement” event.
During his speech to the US Congress in Washington on Tuesday, Charles stressed the historical military and cultural ties between Britain and the US in a visit which officially is to celebrate the 250th anniversary of America’s declaration of independence from British rule.
Yet the king also stressed the importance of Nato, at a time when Trump has been critical of the Western military alliance’s reluctance to provide military help to the US-Israeli war against Iran and warned against American isolationism.
“I pray with all my heart that our lands will continue to defend our shared values with our partners in Europe and the Commonwealth, and across the world, and that we ignore the clarion calls to become ever more inward-looking,” Charles told the joint meeting of the US Senate and House of Representatives.
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