Charles charms Congress with voyage through US-UK history

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Like Mark Carney invoking Thucydides at Davos, King Charles showed the smallness of Donald Trump’s vision for the world with a speech that covered a four-century span of relations between the US and the UK. Becoming the first monarch to address Congress since Queen Elizabeth in 1991, Charles mentioned Oscar Wilde, Charles Dickens and the Magna Carta, making jokes that referenced his ancestor King George III (1738-1820). Woven through the speech, however, were harder politics, including a defence of Nato, which the US has threatened to leave, and Ukraine, which the US has threatened to abandon. It is a reminder that King Charles is perhaps Britain’s most skilled diplomat, especially when the current president is a royalist. As to whether the speech will make an ounce of difference to US policy – that remains to be seen.