By Jonathan Allen and Maria Tsvetkova
WASHINGTON/NEW YORK, April 29 (Reuters) – Britain’s King Charles and his wife Queen Camilla arrive in New York on Wednesday to commemorate victims of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks on the city, part of a four-day state visit to the U.S.
The king and queen’s scheduled arrival in New York follows a packed day in Washington on Tuesday, when Charles delivered a speech to the U.S. Congress, held private meetings with President Donald Trump amid tensions between the U.S. and UK over the Iran war, and sat down with leaders of the U.S. tech industry.
At a White House state dinner on Tuesday night, Trump suggested Charles told the president he supported an end to Iran’s nuclear program. The king is not a spokesman for the UK government and it could not be confirmed that Charles made the statement to Trump. Downing Street and Buckingham Palace did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Charles and Camilla will begin their day in New York with a ceremony at the 9/11 memorial in lower Manhattan, where the twin towers of the World Trade Center were destroyed by al-Qaeda suicide bombers on September 11, 2001, an attack that killed nearly 2,800 people.
Charles is expected to meet with New York City’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani, at the ceremony.
The king will then head to Harlem to visit a grassroots community organization that created a sustainable after-school urban farming initiative in an effort to combat food insecurity, according to local media. Such projects have been a passion of the king’s for decades.
Meanwhile, Camilla will celebrate the 100th birthday of A.A. Milne’s fictional character Winnie the Pooh on behalf of her charity, The Queen’s Reading Room, which Buckingham Palace is calling a “literary engagement” event.
Charles and Camilla’s visit to New York comes on the third day of their state visit to the U.S. during a tense time in relations between the U.S. and the UK, after Trump has repeatedly criticized UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer for what Trump says is his lack of help in prosecuting the Iran war.
In his speech to the U.S. Congress on Tuesday, Charles stressed the historical military and cultural ties between the UK and U.S., in a visit which officially is to celebrate the 250th anniversary of America’s declaration of independence from British rule.
Yet the king also stressed the importance of NATO, at a time when Trump has been critical of the Western military alliance’s reluctance to provide military help to the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, and warned against American isolationism.
“I pray with all my heart that our lands will continue to defend our shared values with our partners in Europe and the Commonwealth, and across the world, and that we ignore the clarion calls to become ever more inward-looking,” Charles told the joint meeting of the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives.
(Reporting by Tim Reid, Jonathan Allen and Maria Tsvetkova. Writing by Tim Reid. Additonal reporting by Michael Holden and William James in London; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
