As monarch, King Charles III is bound by constitutional convention to remain politically neutral. But that hasn’t stopped the UK government from deploying the king to advance its foreign policy agenda.
During their inaugural meeting, Keir Starmer presented Donald Trump with a letter from the king, inviting the president for a “truly historic” and “unprecedented” second state visit to the UK and a visit to the monarch’s private Balmoral residence.
Later that week, the government arranged for the king to meet Volodymyr Zelensky at the royal countryside retreat of Sandringham, to show support for the Ukrainian leader following his disastrous meeting with Trump.
