Trump greets King Charles, Queen Camilla at White House before address to Congress

Just before 11 a.m., after the royals and the president and first lady took the South Lawn stage, they were greeted with a ceremonial cannon salute. 

As the “Star Spangled Banner” played, the first lady placed her hand over her heart and the president held a salute, while the king and queen stood with their arms at their sides.

The president and first lady walked to the driveway on the White House South Lawn ahead of the arrival of the king and queen. At 10:53 a.m., against the backdrop of British and American flags adorning the White House grounds, the king and queen’s car arrived. 

Reporters were positioned far away from the royals, with their line of sight blocked by a stage, so it was difficult to see their interactions as they greeted the president and first lady.

As a military band played, the president and the first lady guided the monarchs to a reception line of Trump Cabinet officials before taking their places on a raised platform for the formal ceremony. The reception line included Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and others. 

Members of Congress and business leaders are among the many onlookers gathered on a rainy South Lawn of the White House to watch the arrival of the king and queen. 

A photojournalist spotted Apple’s Tim Cook and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, the White House press pool said. CBS News spotted Republican Rep. Steve Scalise, Republican Rep. Brian Mast and Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz. Ohio’s Republican Gov. Mike DeWine and Republican South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster are also in the crowd. 

Shortly before the king’s arrival, the president posted images on Truth Social from a Daily Mail column claiming a genealogist had traced the president’s lineage back to the king’s, and the two are distant cousins. 

“Revealed: How the Mail traced Trump’s family tree and found out he’s the king’s cousin!” the piece’s headline reads. 

“Wow, that’s nice. I’ve always wanted to live in Buckingham Palace!!!” Mr. Trump wrote. “I’ll talk to the King and Queen about this in a few minutes!!!”

The king, queen, president and first lady have a full schedule Tuesday, beginning with a greeting on the White House’s South Portico at 10:35 a.m. This will be a more grand and formal welcome than Monday’s greeting.

The pre-ceremony program will feature a U.S. military drum and bugle corps performance, and over 200 performers in total, the White House says. The U.S. Space Force, Marines and other military branches will participate in the arrival.

The king and queen will be welcomed with the song “Jubilant Fanfare” upon their arrival.

At 11:10 a.m., the Trumps and the royals will exchange gifts behind closed doors in the White House’s Blue Room. At 11:40 a.m., the president and king will hold a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office, also behind closed doors. It’s not clear how long the bilateral meeting will last. While they meet, the first lady and the queen will join students on the White House grounds to explore the history of the U.S. and the U.K.

The king will leave the White House in the afternoon and head to Capitol Hill, where he will speak at 3 p.m. to a joint meeting of Congress. 

The king and queen will return to the White House again at 7 p.m. for a tour and document viewing in the White House Residence. The state dinner in honor of the king and queen is slated to begin at 8:05 p.m. in the East Room, although guests will arrive sooner. 

Since the king’s visit is meant to mark the United States’ 250th anniversary, Charles is likely to speak about the relationship between the two countries, particularly during and after World War II. The king, who plays a different role in the U.K. than does the prime minister and generally isn’t involved in day-to-day governing, may rely greatly on history to inform his speech. 

“I expect the speech to be at a rather high-level and my expectation is that it will be somewhat historical — acknowledging the United States came from a revolution against his country, but then how we’ve sort of overcome that,” said Max Bergmann, director of the Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The question will be, Bergmann said, whether the king hints at issues like human rights and freedoms that the U.S. and U.K. supported together after World War II, and whether the king hints at anything that could be interpreted as a criticism of the current administration.

President Trump’s meeting with the king is expected to take place behind closed doors Tuesday morning, away from the eyes of reporters. They may discuss the U.S.’s war with Iran and other international issues, although Bergmann said his “baseline sense is this is going to be kind of a feel-good trip” focused on the historical ties of the two nations. 

Still, Charles has a delicate role to play. U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Mr. Trump’s relationship has been strained amid the war with Iran. Mr. Trump has also criticized immigration policy under Starmer. 

“He’s got some fine thread and he has to thread it through a very very fine needle,” Bergmann said of the king.

Bergmann said the president and king may also discuss other concerns of the king, like international nutrition and health aid for poor nations. International aid from the U.S. took a hit with the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Mr. Trump told the BBC last week he thinks the king’s visit could help repair U.S.-U.K. relations.

“Absolutely,” the president told the BBC. “He’s fantastic. He’s a fantastic man. Absolutely the answer is yes.”

It’s not clear exactly when they first met, but it was more than two decades ago, when Mr. Trump was a businessman in New York society. Photos show Melania and Donald Trump chatting with Charles at an event at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City in 2005. 

More formally, the president and first lady visited with him in the U.K. in 2019, when Charles was still the Prince of Wales. The Trumps visited again in September 2025, attending an elaborate state dinner hosted by the king and queen at Windsor Castle. 

“I know him well, I’ve known him for years,” Mr. Trump told the BBC last week. “He’s a brave man, and he’s a great man.”

Mr. Trump expressed his sympathy for the king after the king’s brother, Andrew Mountbatton-Windsor, was arrested on suspicion of public misconduct in office related to revelations from the Epstein files. The king had already stripped Andrew of his royal titles due to his connections to Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Mr. Trump called the situation with Andrew a “very sad thing.” 

Charles’ last official visit to Washington was in 2015, while he was still prince. He and Camilla met with the Obamas during that visit. 

When Charles and Camilla landed on U.S. soil Monday, they were welcomed by a U.S. military band and school children who presented posies of flowers.

Then, they headed to the White House, where President Trump and first lady Melania Trump welcomed them with a private tea and tour of the White House’s latest beehive.