Royal meeting: Trump & King Charles to talk in Washington

[0:00] Welcome back here on Live Now from Fox. It is Saturday, April 25th. My name is Josh Breslow and [0:06] I'll be here for the next little bit as we break down all of your top stories and live events from [0:11] across the country and across the world. I want to get right back into those headlines because a [0:16] big visit coming in just a matter of days. King Charles III and Queen Camilla will arrive in the [0:23] U.S. We are going to have all kinds of live coverage throughout the week and of course a [0:28] big event that will take place. King Charles expected to deliver an address to Congress. [0:33] That is going to happen on Tuesday and we're going to bring that to you live uninterrupted in full [0:38] commercial free like we always do. But there are a lot of questions about the significance of the [0:44] trip overall, what it says, what we can expect. I do want to bring in Richard Fitzwilliams, [0:49] royal commentator here to discuss all of it. Richard, thank you so much for taking the time [0:54] to join us here on this Saturday. The pleasure. It certainly has a visit or as a state visit. [1:02] It's going to be anthropologically fascinating and unlike any other, I suspect, certainly unlike the [1:10] four state visits which Queen Elizabeth paid to the United States. And I wanted to ask you kind of [1:16] starting off, what are you going to be watching for as the visit takes place? Again, we have that [1:21] address to Congress on Tuesday, but there's a lot more to it. Oh, yes. But the set pieces, [1:27] the steak dinner at the White House, the address to Congress, the commemoration of 25 years since [1:35] 9-11, reception honoring the King's Trust and so forth. These are events that rather like the [1:43] welcome, which will undoubtedly be spectacular. Donald Trump is certainly a president who likes [1:49] spectacle and show and also likes the British monarchy, which is our Trump card, because this [1:58] is, as you know, a period which is extremely difficult in Anglo-American relations, the so-called [2:05] special relationship. It has in recent months, certainly in recent weeks, day by day, it seems [2:12] to have been eroded. And the hope is that this visit will put things back more on an even keel. [2:20] And right now, of course, you can see that we are going to have that live coverage all week. A lot of [2:25] different events that are planned as all of this kind of gets underway here. I wanted to ask you here [2:31] what the relationship is like right now between the U.S. and the monarchy. When you talk about King [2:36] Charles III, you talk about Camilla. We know that Queen Elizabeth passed away several years ago. So [2:43] have we seen anything kind of change there over, I would say, the last several years? [2:50] Well, firstly, I think the United States and Britain, I mean, there has days of relationship, [2:56] which is certainly unusual. And as you commemorate 250 years of independence, this is a unique year. [3:04] Obviously, Queen Elizabeth was greatly admired in the United States, as, of course, was Princess Diana. [3:11] Very specially, there are certain memories, I think, that she would evoke in so many Americans. But [3:19] since King Charles came to the throne, I think that, firstly, he would be admired for his battle, [3:27] who, happily, it appears, successfully, against cancer, as the longest serving Prince of Wales in [3:34] our history. He's made a tremendous contribution to issues such as the environment, on which he and [3:41] President Trump, I would add, would almost certainly not agree. And also, the King's Trust, which has [3:47] helped over a million disadvantaged young people find work. This was started back in the 1970s. But [3:54] there's little doubt, as monarch, I think he's been very at ease in the role, and made a good [3:59] impression. Queen Camilla, likewise, his, if I may use a quote, Queen Elizabeth used of the Duke of [4:06] Edinburgh, who was always by her side, it could be said that Queen Camilla is Prince Charles's [4:13] strength and stay. [4:16] One more thing that's important to note here, when we talk about the actual visit itself, [4:21] there are members of the royal family, specifically talking about Harry, who live in the US, who have [4:28] been here. So do we expect there to be any kind of interaction there? [4:33] I think, very definitely, we do not expect this. I mean, we've had an unexpected intervention by [4:43] Prince Harry very recently. The speech he gave in the Kyiv Security Conference was, I would suggest, [4:54] well, it's a strong speech, and I would not disagree with what he said. But the timing is quite another [5:03] matter, because he knows perfectly well how sensitive next week's state visit is with King Charles and [5:10] Queen Camilla in the United States with President Trump playing host. And therefore, I mean, one bears [5:20] in mind that Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Harry chooses this moment to go to Kyiv and make a speech, [5:30] which, well, President Trump clearly didn't appreciate it. But the point is, now is not the time for any [5:38] grandstanding relations between America and Britain. A whole variety of issues are very awkward, very [5:45] difficult, whether it's the feeling of the Americans, that Britain, for example, initially in the Iran [5:52] War, wouldn't let America use bases, including an Anglo-American base on Diego Garcia, to Britain feeling [6:00] that, well, the Pentagon leaked email leading with the Falklands. That's caused problems here. If America [6:07] were to reassess a view on that, I mean, there have been so many. Now is not the time for the Sussexes to [6:15] do other than, I must hope, keep quiet. This might be a difficult question to answer. But when you talk [6:23] about people in the UK, how do they view this trip overall? I have to imagine everyone has kind of a [6:30] different thought on it. But what is the view overall in the UK about King Charles and Camilla [6:36] coming here to the US to meet with President Trump to address Congress? [6:41] I think the overall view in polls is a certain majority would feel that, in the last poll I saw, [6:50] the majority didn't think it was appropriate. But of course, polls don't control foreign policy. And it's [6:58] important to emphasize that our beleaguered prime minister over a scandal that's linked to Lord [7:06] Mandelson, who was our ambassador to Washington and his connections with the deceased paedophile [7:12] Jeffrey Epstein. Nonetheless, the king acts on the advice of his prime minister. And it's in that capacity [7:20] that he'll be representing Britain. And of course, we bear in mind that the king, with his various [7:28] functions, as they include commander in chief of the armed forces, you could say also that it's been a [7:33] very embarrassing period for Britain, because it has shown that the British armed forces are somewhat [7:39] unprepared for any action that they might be required to take. And there are a lot of strong [7:48] feelings. President Trump, for example, made a comment about British soldiers not being in the front line [7:54] in Afghanistan. And that appears to have been withdrawn when it's pointed out that over 400 died. [8:03] The facts are that there have been so many different emails from the president, and there's a tremendous [8:11] unpredictability. I think he uses unpredictability as a weapon to some extent. But also for the British [8:18] point of view, there is a feeling of nervousness with the relations between the United States and [8:27] NATO, very much, there's a question mark there. And Britain relies for its security on NATO. The United [8:35] States contributes, I think it's some 65%, if you take all the military budgets, of the NATO defense [8:46] spending and is absolutely pivotal. So we're hoping that this state visit will, in point of fact, smooth [8:53] relations. I doubt that Sir Keir Starmer will last much longer than the May elections, though, of course, [9:00] we don't know. Hopefully, when the real the 4th of July is commemorated, will we see Prince William, who's [9:09] going to be in the states reportedly in the 27th with the World Cup, England versus Panama? Will he [9:17] and the Princess of Wales be in the United States? That would be wonderful. And my last question for [9:24] you here. When you look at the situation that's expected to play out over the next several days, [9:29] why would you say that the average American should pay attention to what happens? And also, what should [9:36] the average American look for? I think that the average American would bear in mind that America [9:44] and Britain, as we will be reminded undoubtedly in the speeches of the White House dinner to Congress, [9:53] they have been allies in the two seismic conflicts in the last century. Also, economic ties [10:03] are so pivotal between them. Indeed, there are certain trade deals. There was one when President [10:10] Trump's second visit, which is a unique honour, last September, there was a trade deal there and [10:17] worth over some 30 billion, which I think Britain is not really hoping will go forward. Also, their [10:22] concerns over the digital services tax, which he has. But economically, it's very important. Also, [10:31] the average American will be well aware of Britain's unique cultural contribution. So there is a special [10:37] relationship. But at the moment, it's under enormous amounts of strain. Hopefully, the next few days [10:45] will strengthen ties and the things will go in a smoother trajectory. Though, of course, you never know [10:52] what may happen elsewhere in the world. And what might the President's response be to that? [10:58] We'll definitely see how it all plays out. All right, Richard Fitzwilliams, thank you so much for [11:03] taking the time to be here with us. Anything we missed? I know we covered a lot of ground. But anything [11:08] that you want to mention before I let you go? Well, I think that everyone hopes both President Trump [11:16] is very fond of the British monarchy. He will want this visit to be a success. It's very important to the United Kingdom [11:24] that things go in a smoother way in the future months. And hopefully, they will. But I would stress [11:33] the danger in a world that's become increasingly uncertain of the unexpected. And of course, who knows [11:41] how the most powerful nation in the world and America, of course, will have its president would [11:48] respond. This is it is a question mark. But let's hope that the question mark ends positively. [11:55] We will definitely see. Thank you so much for taking the time to join us. And I'm sure I'll be bugging you [12:00] next week as we see all of this play out. Thank you again. A pleasure. And I do want to remind you [12:06] here we are going to have all kinds of coverage on Live Now from Fox live coverage all week as King [12:12] Charles III and Queen Camilla make that major trip to the U.S. meeting with President Trump. And also, [12:19] we are going to see King Charles address Congress on Tuesday. We're going to have coverage of that as [12:23] well and bring it to you live and uninterrupted. That is what we have the pleasure of doing here [12:29] on Live Now from Fox as we see big events just like this one.