Watch as King Charles leaves state banquet crowd roaring with laughter
Charles' string of jokes during the glittering state dinner left the room in stitches of laughter
King Charles won laughs at the White House last night with a string of jokes during a glittering state dinner hosted by US President Donald Trump.
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The banquet, the first state dinner of President Trump’s second term, was held as part of celebrations marking America’s 250th birthday.
Both men leaned heavily on the long, and often turbulent, history between Britain and the United States.
Raising a toast, the King joked the lavish evening was “a very considerable improvement on the Boston Tea Party”, before taking aim at the President’s changes to the White House.
“I’m sorry to say that we British, of course, made our own small attempt at real estate redevelopment of the White House in 1814,” Charles said, prompting laughter from around the room.
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He then turned to one of Mr Trump’s recent remarks — that without the United States, Europe would be “speaking German”.
“Dare I say it, if it wasn’t for us, you’d be speaking French,” the King poked, prompting more laughter from the President and guests.
Charles also unveiled a deeply personal gift for Mr Trump during his toast — a large gold bell from the conning tower of HMS Trump, a Royal Navy submarine that fought in the Pacific during the Second World War.
"May it stand as a testament to our nations's shared history and shining future,” the King said.
“And should you ever need to get hold of us, well, just give us a ring,” he added.
The gift echoed Queen Elizabeth II’s presentation of a bicentennial Liberty Bell during her visit to the US in 1976.
Despite clear policy differences emerging earlier in the day during the King’s speech to Congress, Mr Trump was quick to praise the monarch.
“He made a great speech,” the President said at a short welcome ceremony on the South Lawn.
“I was very jealous.”
Later, in his own toast, Mr Trump added: “I want to congratulate Charles on having made a fantastic speech today at Congress. He got the Democrats to stand. I’ve never been able to do that.”
It comes as the US President insisted the King agrees with him that Iran should never be allowed nuclear weapons.
Mr Trump made the remarks at the state dinner after the two men sat down to bilateral talks earlier that day.
As head of state, the King is above party politics and remains neutral, but Mr Trump’s comments are likely to be an embarrassment for Buckingham Palace.
The president said in his speech at the white-tie event on Tuesday evening: “We’re doing a little Middle East work right now… and we’re doing very well.
“We have militarily defeated that particular opponent, and we’re never going to let that opponent ever, Charles agrees with me even more than I do, we’re never going to let that opponent have a nuclear weapon.
“They know that, and they’ve known it right now, very powerfully.”