King Charles’s four-day state visit to the US is going ahead as planned, after a shooting at the White House correspondents’ dinner raised doubts about security. The royal trip, which coincides with the 250th anniversary of American independence, is the first since 2007, when the late Queen Elizabeth II was hosted by President George W. Bush.
State visits are formal, international visits made by the heads of state, which in the UK is the king. In September 2025, the king hosted an inbound state visit for US President Donald Trump. Now, he and Queen Camilla will head to Washington DC, New York and Virginia.
The visit, which runs from April 27 to 30, has been controversial amid tensions between the White House and Downing Street. Trump has repeatedly criticised Keir Starmer over a lack of support for the US military operation in Iran. Trump’s threats to buy Greenland, and capture of Venezuela’s president Nicolás Maduro, have also received varying levels of criticism from the UK government.
