King Charles grasped 'opportunity' on US trip, palace says

LONDON:

King Charles III's US state visit was a "risk and challenge" that he "grasped in both hands", a palace aide said Sunday as the monarch returned from a widely praised trip.

Charles left for the UK from Bermuda Saturday following what a senior royal aide called a "historic" visit to the United States, aimed at healing strained ties between Washington and London.

The highlight of the four-day visit was the 77-year-old king's speech to US Congress on Tuesday -- the first such address since his mother, queen Elizabeth II spoke there after the Gulf War in 1991.

The speech, marking 250 years since American independence, was "high stakes", the aide involved in the visit told reporters.

The king urged the importance of NATO and called for a "just and lasting peace" in Ukraine, despite US President Donald Trump's critical stance on the bloc and Ukraine's leader Volodymyr Zelensky.

This was "a measure of how much he personally cares" and proves that he "will always be guided by the truth", the royal aide said.

His words won praise from Trump's opponents, with senior Democrat Gregory Meeks hailing the king's "impassioned call for a renewed commitment to NATO".

And the speech appeared to have gone down well with Trump, too.

The president told journalists Friday that Charles "is just a great person. He's a high quality person. I love the job he did in Congress".

The rapport between the king and president continued as they met behind closed doors in the Oval Office, the royal aide said with "an awful lot of warmth and laughter" amid serious topics. By contrast, Trump has repeatedly lambasted Prime Minister Keir Starmer, particularly over his stance on Iran.

The palace aide denied any awkwardness over the differences in warmth of relationship, stressed the king's visit was on the government's request and there is "not a competition" between the monarchy and Downing Street.

On the contrary, the king and queen "have been able to help the government", the aide said, and the king himself viewed the US leg of his trip as particularly "positive".