Donald Trump speaks as King Charles and Queen Camilla visit White House – US politics live
Donald Trump addresses UK royal state visit
Donald Trump is speaking now.
“What a beautiful British day this is,” he says.
A reminder that you can watch along at the top of the blog, and I’ll bring you all the key lines here.
Key events
Just to give more context to Trump’s “cute” comment, he was talking about how his mother, who was born in Scotland, had a “crush” on Charles.
He said his mother “loved the royal family”, adding:
Any time the Queen was involved in a ceremony … my mother would be glued to the television, and she’d say, ‘look Donald, look how beautiful that is’.
She really did love the family … but I also remember her saying very clearly, Charles … he’s so cute … my mother had a crush on Charles. Can you believe it?
Paying tribute to that shared history, Trump said:
Before Americans had a nation or a constitution, we first had a culture, a character and a creed. Before we ever proclaimed our independence, Americans carried within us the rarest of gifts – moral courage – and it came from a small but mighty kingdom from across the sea.
Trump speaks much of the “centuries-old bond” between the US and UK and the shared history between the two nations, with references to Magna Carta and the war of independence.
He’s also complimented King Charles’s “beautiful accent” and just called the monarch “cute”.
Donald Trump addresses UK royal state visit
Donald Trump is speaking now.
“What a beautiful British day this is,” he says.
A reminder that you can watch along at the top of the blog, and I’ll bring you all the key lines here.
Donald Trump is waiting at the podium now where he will deliver remarks shortly, while the military band continues playing.
And King Charles and Queen Camilla have arrived at the White House for the second day of their state visit.
They are greeted by Donald and Melania Trump, before shaking hands with members of Trump’s cabinet.
They stood for the national anthems, before leaving the stage to walk before a military formation for a “pass in review”. They then return to the stage.
Donald and Melania Trump have now arrived.
Members of Trump’s cabinet have arrived, greeted guests and taken their seats, including vice-president JD Vance; secretary of state Marco Rubio; defense secretary Pete Hegseth; treasury secretary Scott Bessent; chief of staff, Susie Wiles; deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller; and commerce secretary Howard Lutnick.
Many people in the crowd are waving US and British flags and finding ways to stay dry.
Kicking off a drizzly day two of the royal state visit, a military marching band has been performing on the lawn in front of the White House ahead of King Charles and Queen Camilla’s arrival.
There was a flurry of British and US flags paraded up the stairs, an honor guard marched out and is now standing in formation, and the hundreds-strong crowd is looking on from beneath a sea of umbrellas.
There’s a feed at the top of the blog if you’d like to watch along.
JD Vance is expected to attend King Charles’s address to a bipartisan session of Congress this afternoon, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter have told NBC News.
The vice-president will sit on the dais behind the king next to House speaker Mike Johnson — as they did for Donald Trump’s State of the Union address.
Trump claims Iran wants US to open strait of Hormuz as soon as possible
Donald Trump has claimed in a new Truth Social post that Iran has “just informed” Washington that they are in a “state of collapse” and want the US to open the strait of Hormuz “as soon as possible”.
Trump claims this comes as Iran tries to “figure out” their “leadership situation”, which he says he believes is possible.
We have not been able to verify the US president’s claims, and Iran has yet to comment on them.
Earlier, we reported that Trump is dissatisfied with and unlikely to accept the latest Iranian proposal to bring the war to end, after Tehran proposed a plan that would reopen the strait of Hormuz and leave discussions about its nuclear program for a later date.
The war, started by the US and Israel in late February, has disrupted global energy supplies, fueled inflation and killed thousands of people, predominantly in Iran and Lebanon.
My colleague Tom Ambrose is covering all the latest on the conflict here:
UAE to quit Opec in big win for Trump
The United Arab Emirates has quit the Opec oil cartel in a heavy blow to the group and its de facto leader, Saudi Arabia, amid the global energy shock caused by the US-Israeli war on Iran.
The stunning loss of the UAE, a longstanding Opec member, could create disarray and weaken the group, which has usually sought to show a united front despite internal disagreements over a range of issues from geopolitics to production quotas.
However, the UAE’s exit from Opec, and its sister group Opec+, represents a big win for Donald Trump, who has accused the organisation of “ripping off the rest of the world” by inflating oil prices.
The US president has also linked American military support for the Gulf with oil prices, saying that while his country defends Opec members, they “exploit this by imposing high oil prices”.
More on this story here:
