Majority of People Think King Charles Shouldn't Go Ahead With His US Trip, Reveals Poll
A YouGov poll has laid bare the depth of public opposition to a royal visit to Washington.
A new YouGov poll has crystallized what many have been feeling—that a royal trip to Washington, at this particular moment, with this particular president, is not pragmatic, and goes beyond diplomatic courtesy. The latest poll puts the public unease in plain figures. Some 46 per cent of Britons believe King Charles should turn down the invitation to travel to the United States, while another 36 percent think the visit should go ahead. Eighteen percent remain unsure. It is a country hedging, watching, and, in no small part, wincing at what such a visit might mean right now.
It is a snapshot of a country genuinely uncertain about what this trip would signal and to whom. The backdrop against which those numbers land makes them all the more loaded. King Charles and Queen Camilla are expected to cross the Atlantic next month for engagements with President Donald Trump, timed loosely around the build-up to America's 250th independence anniversary celebrations next July. Buckingham Palace has yet to formally confirm the plans.
That temperature has dropped in recent weeks. Relations between London and Washington soured after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer initially refused to allow American aircraft to use British military bases for offensive operations against Iran. He subsequently reversed course, authorizing what Downing Street described as "defensive" strikes on Iranian missile sites, with RAF aircraft also deployed to intercept Iranian drones. The climb-down did little to smooth things over.
President Trump publicly declared that Sir Keir was "no Winston Churchill" and accused him at the weekend of trying to "join wars after we've already won"—remarks that landed with considerable force on both sides of the Atlantic. By Monday, the Prime Minister was visibly attempting to dial down the noise. A Downing Street spokesperson confirmed only that "no state visit has been confirmed yet," while Sir Keir himself stressed that security forces from both countries continue to work together "as they always have."
The pair had spoken via telephone on Sunday, though the contents of the call were disclosed in the sparest of terms. Into this already fraught atmosphere stepped Sir Ed Davey, who announced on Monday that he had written to the Prime Minister urging him to advise the King against making the trip at all.
The Liberal Democrat leader was unsparing in his reasoning. "At a time when Trump has launched an illegal war that is devastating the Middle East and pushing up energy bills for British families, it's clear this visit should not go ahead."
He went further, warning that extending such an honor to "someone who repeatedly insults and damages our country" would amount to "yet another huge diplomatic coup for President "Trump"—a gift, in other words, that Britain should think twice about giving. Whether Downing Street is inclined to listen is another matter. The government's handling of the Iran episode suggests a leadership caught between principle and pragmatism, still searching for its footing.
