US PRESIDENT Donald Trump has said he is "looking forward" to hosting King Charles in the US "very shortly", appearing to confirm the planned state visit despite growing calls in Britain for it to be delayed or cancelled.
Trump made the remarks in the Oval Office on Tuesday (17) while hosting Irish prime minister Micheál Martin at the White House for St Patrick's Day, the Times reported.
The comments came before Buckingham Palace had made any formal announcement about the visit, which is expected to take place in April and will mark the 250th anniversary of American independence.
In the same exchange with reporters, Trump said British prime minister Sir Keir Starmer had made a "big mistake" in his response to American calls for support over the war in Iran. He also suggested his effort to strike a trade deal for Britain "probably wasn't appreciated".
Trump has previously said he is "disappointed" and "not happy" with Britain and its European allies over the conflict.
Starmer has said he will not be drawn into a wider war. Britain initially blocked the US from using British bases to strike Iran — a decision that drew sharp criticism from Trump, who said Starmer was "not Winston Churchill" and had helped "ruin" the Special Relationship between the two countries.
It is against this backdrop that the King's visit to Washington and New York has become a matter of political debate in Britain.
Dame Emily Thornberry, the Labour MP who chairs the foreign affairs committee, said that the visit needed to be "thought through very carefully". "The last thing we want to do is to have their majesties embarrassed," she said, adding: "I suspect it would be safer to delay it."
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey went further, saying the visit should be cancelled altogether. Davey said a state visit would be seen as a "huge diplomatic coup" for Trump and should not be offered to someone who "repeatedly insults and damages our country".
He also noted that despite Trump's evident fondness for the royal family, it did not appear to have made Britain any better off in trade terms.
Senior minister Steve Reed pushed back, saying the King did a "remarkable job" representing Britain abroad.
The Palace has yet to confirm any details. A Palace source told the Times that official travel by the King and Queen required the approval of the UK government, and that the final decision rested with the prime minister.
Sir Peter Westmacott, a former British ambassador to Washington who served from 2012 to 2016 and also acted as the King's deputy private secretary in the early 1990s, said that the visit was "problematic" while the war continued.
He said the government had "a duty to protect the monarchy" and that both Downing Street and the Palace would be asking themselves how a visit at this moment would be perceived by the British public.
"Is this indicative of the King endorsing what the president of the United States is doing? While this goes on, that must be a matter for discussion," he said.
The King hosted Trump for a state visit to Windsor Castle last September, the second such visit of Trump's political career, which included a carriage ride and state banquet. The planned US trip is expected to be shorter than Queen Elizabeth's visit to the US in 1976 for the bicentennial.
A YouGov survey of 12,002 people published last week found that 46 per cent believed the visit should be cancelled, against 36 per cent who thought it should go ahead. Eighteen per cent were undecided.
Prince William is also expected to visit the US in the summer during the football World Cup.
