King Charles US visit overshadowed by Iran war

WASHINGTON:

Britain's King Charles and Queen Camilla arrived in the United States on Monday afternoon for a four-day trip, a tour which has taken on even greater prominence after the White House Correspondents' dinner shooting and amid acrimony between the close allies.

The state visit, by far the most high-profile and consequential of Charles' reign, marks the 250th anniversary of the U.S. declaration of independence from British rule, and is the first to the country by a British monarch for two decades.

Charles and Camilla touched down at Joint Base Andrews around 2:30 p.m. ET (1830 GMT), where they were greeted by diplomatic, state and federal officials as well as senior members of the British embassy and accepted flowers from the children of British military families stationed in the US

The king, sporting a navy suit, and the queen, wearing a pink dress, stood on the tarmac while a military band played the British and US national anthems, before they headed to the White House for a private meeting with self-proclaimed royal fan President Donald Trump.

The week's schedule also includes an address to Congress, a lavish state dinner at the White House and a stop in New York City.

The long-planned visit has become enmeshed in a political spat between the two countries over the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, which led Trump to voice deep displeasure with the British government for failing to support the offensive.

The shooting on Saturday at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner in Washington, where US officials have said the president and members of his administration were the likely targets, has cast a further pall over the visit.