Trump broke protocol, but it could have been much worse

In the world of diplomatic gaffes, it could have been much worse.

At a state dinner on Tuesday, held in honor of King Charles III and Queen Camilla, US President Donald Trump said that during a private meeting earlier in the day, the British monarch agreed with him that Iran must never be allowed to have nuclear weapons.

"We're doing a little bit of work in the Middle East right now ... and we're doing very well," Trump told the crowd. "We've defeated that particular adversary militarily and we will never allow that adversary - Charles agrees with me, even more than I do - we will never allow that adversary to have nuclear weapons."

While many Britons would agree with the president's stance, the comment caused mild discomfort among commentators in the United Kingdom.

In Britain, that's simply not done.

According to established practice, the content of private conversations with the monarch should not be broadcast. This is partly because the king must remain above political squabbles, but also because the sovereign has no opportunity to engage in public debate and correct allegations if he is misquoted.

“In general, when it comes to protocol, I think I would expect that the conversations between heads of state would remain behind the scenes, within those closed meetings, that those conversations would be kept private,” said Craig Prescott, an expert on constitutional law and monarchy at Royal Holloway, University of London. “And, you know, that was something that the British government wanted to avoid.”

There was considerable nervousness before the king's trip to the United States, as the visit comes at a time when Trump is publicly expressing dissatisfaction with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer for not supporting American actions in the war with Iran.

Like all royal visits, this one is a carefully orchestrated diplomatic event, organized at the request of the British government, which hopes that the warm relationship between the king and Trump, who seems to adore everything to do with the royal family, could help bridge the gap.

However, Trump is an unconventional leader prone to breaking protocol, so there were concerns about what exactly he might say or do.

In this case at least, the king's comments seemed to be clearly within the framework of existing British government policy.

"The King is, by nature, aware of his government's long-standing and well-known position on preventing nuclear proliferation," Buckingham Palace said in a statement intended to provide context for the president's comments.

Prescott said that "in a sense it's always been a question - what will Trump do or say, will he embarrass the king?"

"There was always this fear of what he might post on social media," he said. "And I think, you know, this could have been much, much worse."

Before the state dinner, Charles addressed a joint session of the US Congress. The king received several standing ovations during his speech, which celebrated the long-standing relationship between the US and Britain, while also addressing differences in views on NATO, support for Ukraine and the need to combat climate change.

From the British government's perspective, the trip now moves onto safer ground, as the King and Queen leave Washington for New York, where the focus will be on the city's creative industries rather than politics.

The hardest part of the visit may already be over, Prescott said.

"If this is the only controversy that has come out of this phase of the state visit, I think overall this is a huge success for the King and the British government, because the King was able to get some pretty direct messages across to Congress, and it didn't really provoke any negative reaction from the President."

"In a sense," he added, "one gets the impression that the king quite charmed Washington with his speech to Congress and, you know, his very witty speech at the state banquet."