This week, President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump welcomed His Majesty King Charles III and Her Majesty Queen Camilla to the White House, marking the first state visit by a British monarch in nearly twenty years.
This significant visit included a historic arrival ceremony, engaging bilateral meetings, and a splendid state dinner that underscored the enduring cultural, historical, and strategic alliance between the United States and the United Kingdom.
In remarks at the arrival ceremony, President Trump reflected on the deep bonds uniting the two nations as America approaches the 250th anniversary of its founding:
- “Honoring the British King might seem an ironic beginning to our celebration of 250 years of American independence — but in fact, no tribute could be more appropriate. Long before Americans had a nation or Constitution, we first had a culture, a character, and a creed. Before we ever proclaimed our independence, Americans carried within us the rarest of gifts — moral courage — and it came from a small but mighty kingdom from across the sea.” (Watch)
- “For nearly two centuries before the Revolution, this land was settled and forged by men and women who bore in their souls the blood and noble spirit of the British. Here, on a wild and untamed continent, they set loose the ancient English love of liberty and Great Britain’s distinctive sense of glory, destiny, and pride… The American Patriots who pledged their lives to independence in 1776 were the heirs to this majestic inheritance. Their veins ran with Anglo-Saxon courage. Their hearts beat with an English faith in standing firm for what is right, good, and true.” (Watch)
- “In recent years we have often heard it said that America is merely ‘an idea’ — but the cause of freedom did not simply appear as an intellectual invention of 1776. The American founding was the culmination of hundreds of years of thought, struggle, sweat, blood, and sacrifice on both sides of the Atlantic. Fate drew a long arc from the meadow at Runnymede to the streets of Philadelphia that ran through the lives of people born and bred on the British code that ‘no man should be denied either justice or right.’ American Patriots today can sing ‘My Country ‘Tis of Thee, Sweet Land of Liberty’ only because our colonial ancestors first sang ‘God Save the King.’” (Watch)
- “In the centuries since we’ve won our independence, Americans have had no closer friends than the British. We share that same root, we speak the same language, we hold the same values, and together, our warriors have defended the same extraordinary civilization under twin banners of red, white, and blue.” (Watch)
- “Throughout His Majesty’s life, the world has witnessed that same thoughtfulness which first struck Britain’s greatest prime minister. His Majesty’s intellect, passion, and devotion have been a long — really, long a blessing… Not only to his own country, but to the cherished bond between the United States and the United Kingdom.” (Watch)
- “If they could see us today, our ancestors would surely be filled with awe and pride that the Anglo-American revolution in human freedom was never, ever extinguished, but carried forward across centuries, across oceans, and across history until it became a fire that lit the entire world.” (Watch)
At the state dinner, President Trump toasted the unbreakable friendship between the two nations:
- “We’re preparing to celebrate the 250th anniversary of our Declaration of Independence… It’s only natural that Americans begin this commemoration by paying tribute to the transcendent bond we share with the nation that Thomas Jefferson himself called our ‘mother country.’” (Watch)
- “The first Americans saw themselves as free men, carrying forward the ancestral liberties and ancient rights of the Anglo-Saxons into this new and beautiful world. In the eyes of America’s founders, our war for Independence was fought not to reject this heritage, but to reclaim it and perfect it. As the Founding Father George Mason wrote, ‘We claim nothing but the liberty and privileges of Englishmen in the same degree as if we had still continued among our brethren [in] Great Britain.’” (Watch)
- “Today, most of Britain’s former colonies have no idea what they truly owe to this towering legacy of law, liberty, and British custom that they were given… Tonight, on the eve of our 250th year of cherished independence, we turn to the sovereign embodiment of our British heritage and say sincerely: thank you to our friends, the United Kingdom, for the richest inheritance that any nation has ever given to another. May our two countries stand together forever — for liberty, for justice, and for the glory of God.” (Watch)
During the dinner, His Majesty King Charles III presented President Trump with a personal gift:
- “There was one particular AUKUS predecessor launched from a UK shipyard in 1944 that served for the majority of her life attached to the 4th Submarine Squadron in Australia playing a critical role during the war in the Pacific. Her name? HMS Trump. So tonight, Mr. President, I am delighted to present to you, as a personal gift, the original bell which hung on the conning tower of your valiant namesake. May it stand as a testimony to our nation’s shared history and shining future.” (Watch)
