𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

King Charles is the diplomatic super-weapon about to be launched into the United States when relations with Britain are at their most fraught in decades. The King’s upcoming visit across the Atlantic is no mere ceremonial exercise. This is soft power in action and ministers back in London – and leaders throughout European capitals – will watch and hope that Britain’s head of state can steer the American President away from from chaos and confrontation with allies which depend on US protection.

There is dismay in the UK that President Trump is willing to contemplate using military force to seize Greenland, a Danish territory. This is coupled with shock at his vow to slam tariffs on European countries that oppose him taking the vast land mass.

Sir Keir Starmer launched a charm offensive when Mr Trump moved back into the White House, delighting him with an invitation for a second state visit to the UK. The two men enjoyed a warm rapport but the President is appalled by Britain’s surrender of sovereignty of the Chagos Islands – home of the vital Diego Garcia UK-US military base – and he has made it clear he will not brook opposition to his Greenland ambitions.

Peace and prosperity are at stake. British PMs have laboured to secure US support for Ukraine and keep the superpower committed to Nato; if Mr Trump walks away from each and hikes up tariffs then an impoverished Europe will face Russia’s war machine from a position of dangerous weakness.

King Charles has skin in this game. The US President may be intent on the domination of the western hemisphere but our head of state is also Canada’s King. It will not have gone unnoticed in Buckingham Palace when Mr Trump shared a map on social media showing Canada covered with the US flag; this is hardly a demonstration of respect for a Commonwealth nation.

The King will also take a dim view of talk of annexing Greenland. Not only would such a conquest risk reintroducing the laws of the jungle into international diplomacy, Charles’s father was a prince of Denmark and Greece.

Can the British monarch exercise any leverage in this time of turmoil? Unquestionably, yes.

Mr Trump has no love of international summits. He would not be sorry if a transatlantic falling-out meant he spent the weekend at Mar-a-Lago instead of inside the fortified conference rooms of a G7 gathering. But the hint that the King might cancel his state visit would get Mr Trump’s attention in an instant. Prime ministers and presidents are two a penny, but a snub by His Britannic Majesty would sting like a scorpion.

This is Mr Trump’s opportunity to demonstrate his own majestic qualities to a real life King. If a desire to avoid the cancellation of this grand occasion keeps him picking up the phone to Sir Keir, then the cost to the UK taxpayer of the monarchy will have been justified.

The King will arrive in a United States marking 250 years of independence from Britain. This gives Charles the freedom to talk about the desire of peoples on every continent to shape their own destiny rather than surrender to a foreign power’s military might; the King does not have to mention directly the plight of Ukrainians or the right of Greenlanders to decide their future for such words to pack a punch.

On the sidelines of state banquets and parades, British ministers will grab every chance to urge powerful figures in the administration to avoid shredding the foundations of post-war stability and to push for massive tech investment. Charles can celebrate Britain and America’s joint defence of democracy in two world wars during the Cold War, subtly reminding policymakers in Washington DC of what will be lost if the country abandons Nato.

But this visit will be much more than gesture politics on an epic scale. Behind closed doors, the King will have the ear of the President and this is priceless.

When a President meets politicians like Sir Keir or Emmanuel Macron, there are deals to be done and communiques to publish; whatever bonhomie they may display for the cameras, each leader is in ruthless pursuit of their own national interest.

But when a world leader meets a King there is no press conference; Charles will not spend the night denouncing the President on social media. Instead, Mr Trump will spend time with a supremely well-informed monarch who may just impart some wisdom.

The King has spoken of Ukraine as a “beloved country” and left Volodymyr Zelensky in no doubt about his personal commitment to his people. He can impress upon the President he should not abandon his ambitions to earn a place in the history books as a peacemaker.

As a passionate environmentalist, Charles may try and encourage the President to take the long-view when it comes to climate threats. But over the centuries the Royal Family has learned the importance of treading softly; he will know any attempt to harangue Mr Trump risks backfiring disastrously.

Instead, the King can try and persuade Mr Trump that both he and the country he leads have a true shot at real greatness in a combustible world. If he can shift the President’s thinking, this is the definition of a genuinely special relationship.