NEWNow you can listen to Fox News articles!
Ahead of King Charles’ upcoming visit to Washington, DC, it’s worth looking back at the long relationship between the White House and Buckingham Palace. While American presidents and members of the British royal family are fast friends today, it wasn’t always that way.
King George III, of course, was the villain in our story of the American Revolution, and he was still in the picture during the War of 1812, when British forces burned the White House.
In the middle of the 19th century, Queen Victoria became a heroine to some, but a villain to others, when she read the anti-slavery novel “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” to the royal family. Abolitionists may have liked this, but it did not go down well in the slaveholding South.
Things began to change in the late 19th century due to advances in both technology and diplomacy. The United States and Britain began to realize common interests, and transatlantic travel and communication became easier.
King Charles III (left) and US President Donald Trump (right) inspect the Guard of Honor during the visit of the President of the United States of America to Windsor Castle on September 17, 2025, in Windsor, England. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
KING CHARLES RECOGNIZES ‘DIGITAL DETOX,’ CHRISTMAS SPEECH AFTER A YEAR OF ROYAL DRAMA
In 1903, when former President Theodore Roosevelt broadcast the first transatlantic radio message, he addressed it to King Edward VII of Britain, saying:
“In exploiting the wonderful achievements of research and ingenuity that have been achieved in the realization of the wireless telephone system, I extend on behalf of the American people my best wishes and good wishes to you and all the people of the British Empire.”
In the 1910s, the US and Britain became closer as allies of Germany in World War I. In 1939, King George VI made the first British royal visit to the White House, visiting former President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
President Donald Trump shakes hands with Britain’s King Charles III before leaving Windsor Castle in Windsor, England, on September 18, 2025. (Evan Vucci/AP)
KING CHARLES, PRINCE HARRY IN ‘NO GOING BACK’ TIME AS MONARCH REFUSES TO RETURN: EXPERT
The US still had an anti-imperialist chip on its shoulder, however. Roosevelt famously served hot dogs to the king and queen to show his connection to the common man.
Our nations grew closer because of our alliance in both World War II and the Cold War that followed. The development of transatlantic travel meant that visits by presidents to London and by the royal family to Washington became rare events.
During her 70-year reign from 1952 to 2022, Queen Elizabeth II met 13 of the 14 current presidents. This includes every sitting US president from Dwight D. Eisenhower to Joe Biden, with the exception of Lyndon B. Johnson.
Queen Elizabeth II and President Dwight D. Eisenhower stand outside the White House in Washington, DC, in October 1957. (Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone/Getty Images)
‘GLADIATOR II’ STAR DENZEL WASHINGTON MEET KING CHARLES
Although the queen’s role was now ceremonial, there was sometimes a diplomatic component to her visits. When he visited Eisenhower in 1957, he helped ease tensions that had arisen between Britain and the US over the Suez Crisis.
Sometimes there was a big, public aspect to his visits. In 1976, Queen Elizabeth spoke at the White House while visiting former President Gerald Ford during America’s centennial celebrations, perhaps signaling that Britain had finally caught up with things since 1776.
In recent decades, almost every president has had some connection to the royal family: Prince Charles’ wife, Lady Diana, famously danced with actor John Travolta at a White House event during the Reagan administration in 1985.
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump pose with King Charles and Queen Camilla at Windsor Castle in Windsor, England, on September 18, 2025, on the final day of Trump’s second state visit to the UK. (Aaron Chown/WPA Pool/Getty Images)
KING CHARLES IS MEETED BY PRINCE ANDREW AS ‘GRUBBY’ DUKE HUMBLE KINGDOM IN ‘YEAR FROM HELL’: Experts
Queen Elizabeth also awarded former President Ronald Reagan a knighthood in 1989, after he left office. Former President George HW Bush had the queen on his famous Christmas card list of 30,000 people.
In December 2000, with the presidential election still in doubt, former President Bill Clinton had tea with Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace.
When I served in the George W. Bush White House, I remember Karl Rove telling a very funny story about his stay at Buckingham Palace with Bush and he forgot a pair of socks. At the White House’s morning briefing, Rove did the opposite by impersonating a courtier presenting new socks to the “Right Honorable Mr. Rove” on a silver tray.
Sometimes there has been a lack of communication: former President Barack Obama got some pushback by giving the queen an iPod in 2009. Turns out he already had it. Biden got better marks by being presented with a beautiful silver box from Tiffany & Co. with personal drawings.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS PROGRAM
And now, as King Charles begins his first visit to the US in President Donald Trump’s second term, the US and Britain are at odds over war with Iran.
Charles is not a political monarch, but perhaps his visit, like his mother’s in 1957, could ease tensions and help preserve America’s long-standing special relationship with the United Kingdom.
