Why King's US visit probably won't have been worth it

This was always going to have been a deeply controversial royal tour to America.

Critics were horrified from the start at the Starmer government dispatching the King to try to shore up transatlantic relations.

All a bit embarrassing and tawdry, they felt. Not to put too fine a point on it, they've worried the King was being pimped out like a royal escort in the knowledge that a narcissistic president would parade his trophy guest, hoping to bask in his royal limelight.

Follow the latest on the King's state visit

Trump says his love for the royal family goes back to his mother, but he also knows Americans go a bundle for a bit of royal bling, and none of this does any harm to his approval ratings, which are at a record low.

The suspicion that Trump would exploit his royal guest was rather borne out when he apparently tried to stick words into the King's mouth, saying Charles agrees with him over Iran getting the bomb.

Yes, the King delivered two very good speeches.

They appealed to Americans' better nature on NATO, security and Ukraine and gently corrected the record on Britain's commitment to the alliance.

They also sailed pretty close to the wind.

A descendant of the great tyrant King George III, as Americans remember him, King Charles schooled his hosts in the perils of excessive executive rule by one man.

It was quite a moment. Democrats got the point and erupted in appreciation. Donald Trump, who has ruled by executive fiat more than any other president, pretended not to notice.

Pointed oratory then, but two good speeches do not necessarily make a worthwhile royal visit.

The proof will be in the outcome.

King Charles was sent in the hope that his one-man soft power roadshow could improve transatlantic relations, despite the downside, which was potentially considerable.

He was, after all, hanging out with a man accused in the Epstein files of raping a woman when she was 13. The FBI took the allegations seriously enough to interview her a number of times. That is quite apart from the other tawdry tales surrounding this president, who has consistently denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein.

The fact that the King also did not meet any of the survivors of Epstein despite their invitation will rankle with many.

So was it worth it?

On past form no.

The last Trump visit to the UK cost the taxpayer a reported £14m. The unpopular president was given a lavish welcome in Windsor Castle, ringed in high-wall security. Like The Truman Show, it was put on all for the benefit of just one man.

Government supporters and pundits applauded the visit as a masterpiece of British soft power. The palace had played a blinder.

But that has since proven premature. Relations have since only disintegrated further.

In January, the president belittled the enormous sacrifices made by British soldiers in Afghanistan, saying they stayed "a little back, a little off the front lines".

In the same month, Trump ratcheted up tariffs on the UK, threatening to revoke them only if Britain supported his hare-brained scheme to buy Greenland.

And Britain's refusal to join in with Trump's illegal war on Iran has plunged relations to a new nadir.

Read more:
Best pictures so far from the King's US state visit
Unpacking the King's speech to Congress

King Charles is a past master at handling colourful characters and extracting the maximum soft power potential. But even he has had his work cut out salvaging anything from the steaming mess of transatlantic relations under Donald Trump.

The visit undoubtedly bolsters Britain's image and prestige among Americans generally, but was that ever in doubt? It also shores up support with the president's political opponents, useful should they ever get their acts together and their hands back on power.

But do not expect anything more than a passing sugar high in relations with the administration in Washington under this president.

(c) Sky News 2026: Why King's US visit probably won't have been worth it