If nothing else, the gunshots fired at the White House correspondents’ dinner by what the president called a “lone wolf whack job” highlight the security risks that attend even the most tightly controlled of such events. No doubt the administration will be swiftly reviewing the arrangements for the visit to the United States of King Charles and Queen Camilla, and all concerned will be as vigilant as they can be. No doubt also the trip will pass off as happily as the first such mission by a British monarch, made by the King’s grandfather, George VI, in 1939, and the numerous occasions when the late Queen was invited by presidents, from Dwight Eisenhower to George W Bush. Donald Trump’s deference to the House of Windsor and his almost embarrassing praise for the King and his consort should ensure that his natural tendency to wander off script and indulge in poor-taste wisecracks will be suitably restrained. But you never know.
At any rate, the visit comes at a dismal moment in what is still called, at least by optimists, “the special relationship”. During last year’s second state visit by President Trump and the first lady, the phrase was still being used, even as the administration’s tariff wars strained the US’s links with its close friends and allies. Now, the continuing effects of the war in Iran have pushed matters to breaking point. The president’s confused demands for help (that the US apparently doesn’t need anyway), in an illegal and poorly planned war that partners were neither consulted over nor initially invited to join, have left Nato in disarray. The president wrongly says Nato partners, including the British, weren’t there when the US needed them: the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq prove otherwise. He derides the bravery of His Majesty’s armed forces and makes fun of Britain’s “toy” aircraft carriers, named, pointedly, The Prince of Wales and Queen Elizabeth.
