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White House Welcomes Britain's King Charles & Queen Camilla; Controversial Comments by Britain's Ambassador to U.S. Leaked to FT; Trump's Speech Celebrates the Evolution of Relationship with UK. Aired 11:35a-12p ET

Aired April 28, 2026 - 11:35   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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LYNDA KINKADE, CNN HOST, ONE WORLD: Hello. I'm Lynda Kinkade. Live in Atlanta. You've been watching CNN special coverage of Queen Charles, King

Charles rather and Queen Camilla at the White House during their state visit to the United States. It's been a day of pomp, ceremony and Royal

diplomacy.

U.S. President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump greeted the Royals on the White House South Lawn just moments ago. Now, the rival ceremony includes

military honors, national anthems, as well as a 21-gun cannon salute. The Royals are having private events with the Trumps, and we expect to see them

tour the new Rose Garden.

And then in a few hours, King Charles will be at the U.S. Capitol for an address at the joint meeting of Congress. Well, I want to go to the White

House, where Royal Correspondent Max Foster and CNN's Kevin Liptak are standing by. Great to have you both with us.

I want to start first with you, Max. It was quite a warm speech we heard from President Trump. He started out joking about the beautiful British

weather.

[11:40:00]

And then alluded to some family stories about his mother having a crush on the King a young child back in the day. What were your key takeaways from

that speech?

MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think actually, that was a really significant moment. You can't imagine how powerful the Royal Family

is, for the British government allows it to punch above its weight on the international scene, and this was a classic example of that.

But then you wonder why the president is so fascinated with Britain royalty in particular. Of course, his mother came from Scotland, and she was

fascinated with the Queen. But I thought what was really interesting was explains why they the president looked up to the King so much this idea

that his mother used to talk about Charles being so cute as a boy.

But also, the president saying, imagine her looking down on me now, you know the president standing there next to the King of England. So, I think

that really helps and helps us understand why there is the president does have this admiration for British royalty, and it's certainly something that

the British government are using to their best advantage.

Because now they go off for their one-on-one talks, and I think hopes are pretty high that the King can re-establish very fractured relations between

the two countries. And, you know, I think the speech would have been music to the British government's ears. It's, I think a lot of what you saw there

will be reflected in what the King will say to Congress later.

KINKADE: Yeah, it certainly seemed to go really well. Donald Trump certainly seemed to stick to the script. Kevin to you as Max was just

alluding to President Trump and King Charles having a bilat meeting. It's not on camera. Why isn't it open to the press? And what are the

expectations about what will be discussed?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Right. And it's unusual, isn't it, when the president has a foreign leader here at the White House,

he almost always pulls in television cameras, which won't be the case today.

And I think that was a decision, I think, made jointly, probably by the White House and the Palace, to ensure that no awkwardness seeps into this

meeting that both sides very much want to go well. You know you're not going to have President Trump offer a stray remark about Keir Starmer being

no Churchill, as he has done so many times over the last month or so.

I don't think the Palace wants to have the King sitting next to the president while that's happening, which is why we're just going to see

photos of them in the Oval Office, no television cameras. Although I think if we take the president's speech that he just delivered as an example, he

doesn't want this to be awkward, either.

He wants this to really underscore the relations between the two men. And that speech was so interesting. You don't often hear the president talk

about history in that way, to talk, sort of philosophically, about the shared culture and values between the U.S. and UK, talking about the

meadows of Runnymede and talking about, you know, the constitutional Congress being the institution that the Congress that King Charles is going

to speak out later today as its descended.

And so it was, I think, an unusual speech in a lot of ways, from the president. He doesn't often stick to the script. And in that kind of way,

he was really on his best behavior. And I do think that that just underscores the reverence that he holds for the King and for the

institution and for this Royal Family that he has in his own telling, spent his entire life watching both himself and through the eyes of his mother.

And so, if that is sort of the basis for how this visit set off, I think it will be a welcome news for the Brits, who are hoping to smooth over some of

those tensions. Even as the president, I think, if you were listening closely, as he's talking about, you know, the joint military participation

that these two countries have had over the last 70 years or so, you could potentially read into that the president making a tacit call for Britain to

do more in the war in Iran, to do more to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

But clearly nothing explicit along those lines in the way that we've been hearing from him over the last several weeks. And so, when they do sit down

in the Oval Office a few moments for now, potentially they could talk about that in private, but it is not likely something that we will ever hear

about.

KINKADE: Yeah. I mean, certainly the King has to remain neutral, politically neutral. I want to go back to Max on that point. We did hear

President Trump speak also about the Queen, how she was missed on both sides of the Atlantic?

And coming up there is going to be a gift exchange. And previously, you know, we saw the president gift an Eisenhower Sword to the King to

highlight the military alliance. What do we know about the gift exchange today?

FOSTER: Well, we'll find out as it's handed over. They don't want to give anything away to the media before the president even knows about it. But

it's going to be the general theme of this is there's a long-shared history. These are friends that show up for each other. They have

differences. They get over them.

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But it's the ultimate alliance in the world that's really the message. So, the King needs to think of a gift that represents that. And this is about

250 and this irony that Britain is here to celebrate its defeat in the War of Independence. But I think it's going to be something going back to that,

perhaps something from the Royal Collection that speaks to Britain's defeat, frankly, all those years ago.

And how the relationship has only got stronger over that period of time, that long period of time. But who knows. I think it will be something

historic, though it won't be something current.

KINKADE: Yeah, it'll be interesting to note. I think there will be that historical touch, as you mentioned, given the timing of this visit. And

just finally, to Kevin, we know that the King is going to address the Joint Session of Congress later today. The president said he can't be there

because of protocol. Is that correct? He said he'll be watching it elsewhere. And what are we going to see in this speech?

LIPTAK: It is correct. The president doesn't typically escort a foreign guest over to Congress when they're addressing the joint session. And I

also think it could potentially be a moment of discomfort, given what we know about Charles's speech.

He will not explicitly talk about some of the tensions that have seeped into the relationship, but there will be there for people who are listening

closely, this idea of talking about reconciliation, talking about shared sacrifice. And as we understand it, he'll even talk about his own service

in the Royal Navy, which is a body that the president has derided over the last several weeks amid these ongoing tensions between the two countries.

And so even though the president says that he would have loved to be there in the House Chamber to listen to Charles speak, he won't be there, but he

will certainly be watching it on television. And I also think it also underscores some of the security parameters that we've seen in place this

week, after what happened on Saturday night over at the Washington Hilton.

You know, just today at the White House, we've seen snipers on buildings all around, just underscoring how tight the security has been around this

visit. As we know, the two sides discussed changing some of the protocols before Charles got here.

But of course, the visit is proceeding as planned, and so the president will be watching it from here at the White House, and I think some of those

messages that Charles will be conveying hopefully will land to a receptive- ears on the part of the president.

KINKADE: Yeah, he will be keen to hear some pleasant comments, I'm sure. Great to have you both with us. Kevin Liptak and Max Foster, both at the

White House. Appreciate it. We're going to continue on this subject. The Royals, of course, are signing a guest book. They'll continue to exchange

the gifts with the Trumps.

And then, shortly before the King and Queen arrive, controversial marks were made by the British Ambassador to the U.S. Now these comments were

leaked to "The Financial Times". The FDA obtained a recording of Christian Turner's remarks made to visiting British students in mid-February.

Now in it, Turner says he disliked the phrase special relationship to describe the ties between London and Washington. He says the only country

that has that special relationship with the U.S. is probably Israel. He also tells the students that it is extraordinary that the Epstein scandal,

which has rocked Britain, hasn't touched anybody in the U.S.?

Well, I want to bring in Ron Brownstein in Los Angeles. And joining us from London is a Broadcaster, and Royal Watcher Bidisha Mamata. Great to have

you both with us. Ron, I want to start with you on those comments by the Ambassador, the UK Ambassador to the U.S., those late comments where he

said, if there is a special relationship between America and anyone else, it's probably Israel. What's your response?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yeah. Well, you know, there's a phrase in Washington you've probably heard called a Kinsley Gaffe, named

after the famous editor Michael Kinsley. And the idea is that a gaffe in Washington is when you say what you really mean.

And I think this is another example of that. It's indisputable that President Trump's relationship with Benjamin Netanyahu and his very

conservative government in Israel is closer than his relationship with the left of -- Labour Party government in England.

And that, you know, President Trump did something that no other president would do on behalf of Israel, which is join them in a war against Iran. His

comments about Epstein are equally kind of indisputable. It is remarkable that there has been so little accountability for anyone enmeshed in this.

I'll just add one last point. You know, while there's a great deal of talk about the special relationship and its fraying and the obvious tensions

between Trump and the current British government.

[11:50:00]

You know, Prime Minister Starmer has lots of political problems, but being cross wise with Donald Trump is not really one of them. I mean, if you look

at the polling in England as Max could have -- could tell us, as in most European countries, Trump is very unpopular. The idea of a special

relationship with Trump's America really is not something that the people, voters in England are clamoring for.

So, while this is a source of tension at kind of the government leader level, it really isn't kind of a political problem for him. I don't think

any sense of anything the opposite standing being seen standing up to Trump, particularly on Iran, probably fortifies his political position.

KINKADE: Yeah, you make a good point. Bidisha, I want to ask you about that the relationship between the U.S. and the UK, because the UK Ambassador

also went on to say that Britain and the rest of Europe must work to redefine the relationship with the U.S. I mean, can this Royal visit be a

bridge to soften those divisions?

BIDISHA MAMATA, BROADCASTER: It can be the first on a rickety bridge back towards these relations. But I agree completely with the comments that we

just heard. What Turner was saying is clearly, obviously the case, and he wasn't talking about the special relationship with a capital S and a

capital R.

He was talking about the real politic of now. Where does Keir Starmer stand? Where does Trump stand? The King's visit is separate from that, and

the King wasn't to know about these comments that were passed between a new ambassador and some students, clearly as part of a much broader

conversation.

I think that what we heard from President Trump today was very substantial, very diplomatically composed. Whoever did indeed compose it should really

be congratulated, because this was a brief, self-aware, aware, remarkably political, small p political speech delivered with, I'd say, 99 percent of

successfulness, because it didn't shy away from talking about the C word colonialism.

It referenced things like a common sense of exceptionalism, values, civilization, standing up for oneself, defense. These are very, very

startlingly politically charged phrases, and yet it worked very well. There are a few ad hoc moments. People mentioned the president's sighting of his

mother.

I do think that that's sincere. I do think that that's part of the root of his sense of looking for an identity, connecting with history and heritage.

Who am I? Do my roots go deeper than just me and my family in America? What is all of this about? The comment about the young Charles, I actually

thought was very skillfully done, and Charles did react to it, why?

Because King Charles himself, he has a sense of humor, and he likes to be broken out of the stultifying role that he's been in all his life, as a

Prince and then a King. I'm not sure Melania Trump really would have liked to be told straight to her face in front of the watching world that her

marriage wouldn't last that long.

Perhaps the greatest diplomat in the entire day was Melania herself. But overall, I thought it was a very well-choreographed, very thought through

and disciplined afternoon, and of course, that day is going to carry on.

KINKADE: Yeah, it certainly was. It was short, it was sweet. It was to the point. I want to go to Ron, because you've argued that Trump's engagement

with the British Monarchy is largely about symbolism and image. Does King Charles's visit fit that pattern, or is there a chance that we might see

some real diplomatic substance?

BROWNSTEIN: Now look, I think the president and I agree the speech was uncharacteristically gracious and kind of expansive and inclusive, you

know, words you don't usually think about in Trump speeches. But in some ways, it was, it kind of rang hollow in that, you know, the emphasis was on

shared values.

That is not the way Trump approaches international relations. I mean, he has kind of downgraded the importance of shared values in the way he

relates to other countries. He kind of rejects the idea that there is a kind of an ancestral alliance, for example, with the traditional NATO

allies in Europe, around shared beliefs on democracy and so forth.

And it's much more transactional. So, I think you know, the transaction in this case is that the president really does admire the Royal Family, loves

to be in their company, and there is goodwill in that. But I don't think it changes his fundamental view that the British government doesn't have that

much to offer him on things that he cares about, and is politically disinclined to cooperate even on the things where it can help.

So, you know, I kind of look at it as two separate tracks, but one that ultimately reaffirms, you know, his belief that international relations.

[11:55:00]

You know, there are no permanent allies, only permanent interests to borrow from the -- borrow from the British.

KINKADE: Yeah, exactly. And Bidisha just finally, to you, we did hear from the UK Ambassador also speaking about the fact that, you know, the Epstein

associates in the U.S. haven't been held accountable in the way that those in the UK have.

You've argued that the Monarchy is all for show. And I'm just wondering whether the Epstein backdrop makes that show harder to sustain without

controversy potentially spilling over during this visit.

MAMATA: I am so glad that in your coverage, you are actually mentioning Epstein, because you're absolutely right at the moment. And let's just say

for this week, that is the great unspoken. What we know is that a little bit later in this trip, the King and the Queen are indeed meeting with

community groups and groups which are representing survivors and witnesses of all different kinds of abuse and violation.

And again, Turner's comments, although unfortunate for him, are certainly true. If you're looking at who has been investigated, who has been sent to

prison, whose names from any little black books are being revealed. There's been very little action.

KINKADE: Yeah.

MAMATA: But I would argue that this case has made us talk about these issues in a way which is very, very powerful at a personal, maybe not

formal or political level that we're talking about it.

KINKADE: We will continue to cover it. Sorry to cut you off there, but we've got to -- go to run the break. Bidisha Mamata and Ron Brownstein,

great to have you both on the program. Thanks very much. I'm Lynda Kinkade, do stay with CNN. Much more of "One World" with my colleague, Bianna

Golodryga next.

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