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Washington, DC — 

“The word ‘special’ does not begin to do it justice,” said Donald Trump of the relationship between the United States and Britain. “We’re like two notes in one chord, or two verses of the same poem – each beautiful on its own, but really meant to be played together.”

That was in September, when the US president spoke at a banquet hosted by King Charles III to mark his unprecedented second state visit to Britain. Since then, Trump’s comments about Britain have not been so lyrical, or so kind.

The president has called Prime Minister Keir Starmer a “loser” over his refusal to assist the US militarily in its war with Iran. He said Starmer was “no Churchill,” comparing him instead to Neville Chamberlain, a previous British leader who appeased Hitler. He declared that Britain was no longer “the Rolls-Royce of allies” and dismissed its Royal Navy aircraft carriers as “toys.” Asked this month about the state of the “special relationship,” Trump replied: “Not good, not good at all.”

It falls to King Charles to help mend it. The monarch lands in the US on Monday for a four-day state visit to mark the 250th anniversary of its independence, declared during the reign of his five-times great-grandfather, King George III.

The “special relationship” has endured a lot since then, from Britain’s burning down the White House in the War of 1812 to the US invasion of Grenada in 1983, while Queen Elizabeth II was its head of state.

Relations are again at a low ebb. Starmer had been praised for successfully navigating the first year of Trump’s second term; the second year has been choppier due to disagreements over Trump’s war against Iran.

Although the British monarch must stay above politics, his government is hoping that his US tour can help ease tensions. Charles and Camilla will have plenty of face time with the Trumps on the Washington leg of the trip, which culminates in an address by the King to a joint meeting of Congress, before the royals head to New York and Virginia.

“The King will not be having the kind of conversation with the president, or with senior senators and so on, that the prime minister would, but he’s extremely well informed, and it provides an opportunity for private conversations on some really important issues,” said Peter Westmacott, former British ambassador to the United States.

“From the United Kingdom’s point of view, we would obviously hope that those private conversations will have some impact,” he added.

King Charles was said to be “greatly relieved” that Trump, his wife and other guests were unharmed after a gunman attempted to charge into a Washington media dinner on Saturday night, Buckingham Palace said. The King and Queen were understood to have reached out privately to the US president following the security incident.

The palace later confirmed Sunday that the royal state visit to the US will go ahead as planned “following discussions on both sides of the Atlantic through the day, and acting on advice of Government.”

“The King and Queen are most grateful to all those who have worked at pace to ensure this remains the case and are looking forward to the visit getting underway tomorrow,” the palace said in a statement.

CNN understands there will be some minor operational adjustments to one or two engagements but the overall plan for the four-day visit remains as previously scheduled.

Charles has become something of a trump card for the British government. When Starmer visited the White House last year, he wasted little time in brandishing a letter from the King, inviting the president for a state visit at Windsor. The move showed how Starmer’s government planned to handle Trump in his second term: play to his penchant for flattery and royalty – and hope to reap rewards.

Trump’s affection for Britain and its monarchy is known to run deep. In “The Art of the Deal,” Trump said he got his “sense of showmanship” from Queen Elizabeth II, whose coronation he watched on TV when he was a boy. He recalled being “enthralled by the pomp and circumstances, the whole idea of royalty and glamor (sic).” And the president often speaks of his “great love” for Scotland, the birthplace of his mother, where he owns two golf courses.

But beneath this affection, there are deep differences between the monarch and president.

Trump’s “drill, baby, drill” plan is the sort of policy that Charles, an early environmentalist, has railed against for decades. While the King is a devotee of wind farms, Trump abhors them. He complained last year that the wind farms off the coast of his Turnberry golf course were not only an eyesore, but “driving the whales loco.” When Trump met then-Prince Charles during his first term, he complained the conversation had been “terrible,” according to former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham. Trump said the future King spoke of “nothing but climate change,” Grisham wrote in her memoir.

While the late Queen Elizabeth II enjoyed relatively smooth relations during her seven visits to the US, Charles will be fully cognizant of the turbulent landscape he’ll need to navigate while deploying the diplomatic expertise he has honed for decades. He knows how careful words and thoughtful actions can defuse wider tensions.

For the King, this trip isn’t just about Trump. It’s about America and the shared history between the two countries. That relationship “transcends the presidency,” a UK source with knowledge of the state visit arrangements told CNN.

They pointed to shared values, cultures with ingrained economies and security arrangements. “All of those things predate this current moment and all of them will continue long after,” the source added. That’s because when Trump leaves office and is replaced, the King will need to pick up with the next president and the ones after that until his son William takes over.

The “reality,” CNN was told by the source, is that the two countries have disagreed in the past on everything from Vietnam to the Suez Crisis but ultimately came back together during the World Wars, the Cold War and the creation of the United Nations. Things don’t always have to be “rosy,” the source explained.

The King and the Americans

Sources from the British side have said the King’s schedule has been tailored more broadly for the American people.

In Washington, the White House will lead on anything that happens at the executive residence, such as a private meeting between the King and Trump, a tour of the new White House beehive, a ceremonial military review with 21-gun salute, and the state dinner. The event is white tie, according to the UK source familiar with visit plans, the highest level of formal evening attire rather than the more semi-formal black tie – indicating top-tier honors for the British head of state. And expect a guest list that is more corporate than Hollywood glitz; there’ll be no John Travoltas dancing their way into the headlines.

Beyond the White House, the Brits have shaped arrangements and optics. The King and Queen will attend a garden party reflecting a cross-section of US society, and later in the week they will lay a wreath and flowers commemorating those who have lost their lives in service to the US, UK and allies.

The highlight of the visit is the King’s address to a joint meeting of Congress, only the second time a British monarch has done so. He is expected to speak directly to the American people rather than deliver an ode to any particular president.

There have been calls for the royal couple to meet with survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse following the Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor scandal. Charles’ brother was arrested in February on suspicion of misconduct in public office; police had previously said they were reviewing claims that Mountbatten-Windsor shared sensitive information with the convicted sex offender while serving as envoy. The former prince has previously denied all accusations against him and insisted he never witnessed or suspected any of the behavior of which the late Epstein is accused.

While the royals won’t address the Epstein scandal directly during the visit, they are expected to show how survivors of abuse should always be front of mind by meeting representatives of charities that work with survivors of domestic violence.

Away from the capital, the royal couple will continue this theme of connection with everyday Americans in New York where they will visit the 9/11 memorial and meet first responders, as well as going to a community initiative in Harlem, a literacy event, and a possible walkabout.

Then in the Democratic state of Virginia, they will meet indigenous communities to hear about conservation but also the contentious issue of land rights, which may raise eyebrows in the Trump administration. They will also attend a 250th anniversary block party. After leaving the US, the King will travel on to Bermuda before flying home to the UK.

The trip also marks a high-stakes diplomatic test for the White House, which is set to offer the full pomp and circumstance of an official state visit.

Trump has personally taken an expanded role in planning for Tuesday evening’s event, according to one source familiar with the matter.

First lady Melania Trump signaled she has been involved with floral design and china selection, working closely with a team of White House chefs, social staff and protocol experts. The office of the first lady posted a black-and-white video teasing “the final details” last week, showing floral arrangements with amaranthus and roses, a place setting featuring the gilded Clinton china service, and a menu handcrafted by the White House Calligrapher’s Office.

“An event of this importance and magnitude is given great care and attention,” a White House official told CNN.

But Donald Trump, who is known to revel in the pageantry of official events, has taken the lead on details like building the guest list and menu selection, with his wife weighing in. The planning has taken place without a White House social secretary, a critical role for high-stakes hosting duties. Melania Trump, who employs a small staff compared to her predecessors or even her first term team, has yet to fill the position.

“He’s going to want it to be super grand,” one former White House official said, recalling how impressed Donald Trump was during a previous visit to Buckingham Palace.

His elevated attention to these details underscores the ways in which he has taken control of tasks that traditionally fall under the office of the first lady and executive residence staff. The president played a similar role for the Governors’ Ball earlier this year, where a military ensemble performed selections from Les Misérables.

And it comes as he oversaw the demolition of the East Wing, which was home to first ladies and their staff for decades, and is leading changes to the Rose Garden and West Colonnade, along with ballroom construction.

While their husbands meet, the first lady will host Queen Camilla for an educational event using virtual reality headsets and AI-enabled glasses with American students.

As Trump indulges his love of all things royal, Charles will spotlight the shared history between the two countries – and perhaps in the process ease current tensions.

When asked whether King Charles and Queen Camilla’s visit could help fix the faltering US-UK relationship, Trump struck a positive tone on Thursday. “Absolutely, the answer is yes,” he told the BBC in a phone interview.

“I know him well, I’ve known him for years,” he said. “He’s a brave man, and he’s a great man. They would absolutely be a positive.”

CNN’s James Frater contributed to this story.

The shooting at the Washington Hilton hotel gives new urgency to the project to construct a 1,000-seat ballroom at the White House, Donald Trump claimed after the incident on Saturday night.

The US president pressed the case for his controversial ballroom initiative at the press conference he held at the White House on Saturday and a social media post on Sunday, after an armed attacker was arrested as he rushed towards the Hilton’s ballroom, where Trump was attending the White House Correspondents Association’s annual dinner.

The $400m construction project to build a giant event space began at the White House with the east wing being knocked down last October without Trump waiting for full legal permission to proceed. Legal challenges followed along with controversy over funding for the enormous ballroom, which is planned to be larger than the core White House itself.

“What happened last night is exactly the reason that our great Military, Secret Service, Law Enforcement and, for different reasons, every President for the last 150 years, have been DEMANDING that a large, safe, and secure Ballroom be built ON THE GROUNDS OF THE WHITE HOUSE,” Trump posted on Truth Social on Sunday morning.

He said that the shooting incident, which caused Trump and senior administration to be hustled out of the Hilton hotel complex, and hundreds of guests to duck for cover, “would never have happened with the Militarily Top Secret Ballroom currently under construction at the White House”.

Trump pointed to existing security at the White House – “the most secure building in the world” – and “every highest level security feature there is” planned for the ballroom. “Plus, there are no rooms sitting on top for unsecured people to pour in,” he added, referring to the event taking place in a mainstream hotel.

Trump’s comments were the second time in just over 12 hours that he mentioned the White House ballroom project in reference to the shooting incident.

“I didn’t want to say this,” Trump said at a press briefing late Saturday after returning to the White House from the press dinner, “but this is why we have to have all of the attributes of what we’re planning at the White House. It’s actually a larger room, and it’s a much more secure. It’s got – it’s drone-proof, it’s bulletproof glass.”

Trump has survived two previous assassination attempts, both during his 2024 election campaign. After the latest incident, Trump said in the White House briefing room that the scare would not impact the conduct of his life.

“I like not to think about it,” he said. “I lead a pretty normal life, considering, you know, it’s a dangerous life. I think I’m, I think I handle it as well – as well as it can be handled.

“To be honest with you, I’m not a basket case,” he added. But he also conceded that “it’s always shocking when something like this happens” and it had been “very unexpected”.

He told Weijia Jiang, the CBS News correspondent and the president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, who was seated to his left at the dinner, that she’d done “a fantastic job. What a beautiful evening.”

Trump said he thought the noise that later turned out to be gunfire was “a tray going down. I’ve heard that many times, and it was a pretty loud noise, and it was from quite far away.”

Melania Trump, he said, “was very cognizant, I think, of what happened. I think she knew immediately what happened. She was saying: ‘That’s a bad noise.’” Trump said it was “a rather traumatic experience for her”.

Trump had been expected to roast the attending press corps during an after-dinner speech with what he said would have been the “most inappropriate speech ever made”. Even his being invited to the dinner was controversial after several years of calling the US media “the enemy of the people”. He has been repeatedly suing various media outlets, threatening broadcasters over their licenses and stepping up his attacks on some individual journalists when they ask him awkward questions.

On Saturday night he suddenly now thanked the gathered journalists at the White House press briefing room, most still in the eveningwear they had donned for the dinner event. He praised “very responsible” coverage of the drama that had unfolded and said that when the press dinner is reorganized he is likely to give a different speech than the one he had planned for Saturday night.

Then on Sunday, Trump said lawsuits seeking to stop the White House ballroom construction “must be dropped, immediately”, adding: “Nothing should be allowed to interfere with with its construction, which is on budget and substantially ahead of schedule.”

That view was supported by at least one moderate Democrat, Pennsylvania senator John Fetterman.

“That venue wasn’t built to accommodate an event with the line of succession for the US government,” Fetterman posted on X, referring to the Washington Hilton. “After witnessing last night, drop the TDS (‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’), and build the White House ballroom for events exactly like these,” he said.

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Shocking. Unnerving. Unpredictable. Violent. For a decade I have been following the twists and turns of Donald Trump’s America with the privilege of journalistic distance. On Saturday night I felt the darkness come viscerally close.

Bang! Bang! What was that? Where was it? At 8.36pm panic and pandemonium reigned in the cavernous ballroom at the Washington Hilton hotel. There were men running and cries of “Get down!” and “Stay down!”

I saw guests at the White House Correspondents’ Association’s (WHCA) annual dinner – men in tuxedos, women in dresses – diving under the circular tables and I, almost as if acting on a cue, did likewise. It was a scene from a dozen Hollywood movies but now it was happening to me, right here, right now.

Secret Service agents raced through the room, wielding weapons. There was an eerie silence. By the time I rose to look at the dais, Donald and Melania Trump had already been rushed away. Instead, there were four officers with helmets and rifles standing guard against a backdrop of a White House image and the words: “Celebrating the first amendment.”

Then a white-haired man in a tuxedo was led past our table, leaning on two men for support because he could not walk unaided. Who was he? Had he been injured in this drama? We did not know.

How did I feel? It’s a question that reporters ask interviewees all the time. What I felt at that moment was profound confusion and uncertainty. We were in the eye of the storm but had no idea how big the storm was or what it looked like.

This should have been the most secure location in America. The Hilton was fortified after witnessing the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan 45 years ago. I showed my admission ticket several times and passed through an airport-style metal detector because Trump was attending the WHCA dinner for the first time as president.

Indeed, that meant it was already a highly charged night: would he attack the media on their home turf? Would reporters and other guests applaud him, keep quiet or walk out in protest? Unsettling questions of the Trump era – questions of truth, normalisation, resistance, capitulation, authoritarianism – hovered in the air.

There were some cheers and applause as Trump entered the room to the familiar strains of Hail to the Chief. The president maintained a salute throughout the entire national anthem. Weijia Jiang, president of the WHCA, told him: “It is meaningful that you are here tonight.”

Guests were talking among themselves, eating a spring pea and burrata salad and drinking wine when the rupture happened. We later discovered that an assailant carrying guns and knives rushed a Secret Service checkpoint in a lobby of the hotel before being apprehended. One officer was shot but he was protected by a bulletproof vest.

Minute by minute, a strange calm descended on the ballroom as it became apparent the danger had passed. A metaphor for the new normal. Reporters made calls to their editors or recorded videos on their phones. One near the scene of the incident told me he heard five shots; another said he heard four. An embassy official said the sound of gunfire had reminded him of his time in Afghanistan.

Jamie Raskin, a Democratic congressman from Maryland, told me he had been thrown to the ground by the Secret Service. “People were screaming and yelling,” he told me. “People were terrified. People seem to be relieved now but it definitely looks like the evening is over.”

Frank Luntz, a consultant and pollster who has long warned of poison seeping into the body politic, said: “It bothers me that it seems like people feel justified screaming, hollering, threatening, throwing rocks, throwing stones, behaving in an awful way and I hope that you in the UK never have to go through this. You went through this during the IRA. Let us hope that it’s not coming here tomorrow.”

For a while it seemed the dinner would resume. I imagined Trump seizing the moment, just as he did while bloodied after the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, with a “the show must go on” performance that might have charmed even critics in the room. But protocol dictated otherwise and the dinner was postponed.

The president retreated to the White House and held a briefing for reporters, many wearing their gala finery. He could not resist using the incident to justify one of his pet projects. “I didn’t wanna say this but this is why we have to have all of the attributes of what we’re planning at the White House. We need the ballroom.”

Peter Doocy of Fox News asked why this keeps happening to Trump. The president cited Abraham Lincoln and said: “I’ve studied assassinations, and I must tell you, the most impactful people … the people that do the most, the people that make the biggest impact, they’re the ones that they go after.”

Which was not the real story. The past 10 years have witnessed a shooting at a congressional baseball practice, a deadly white supremacist march in Charlottesville, the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol and the killings of the former Minnesota house speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband and the rightwing activist Charlie Kirk. Political violence is rampant and on Saturday, in a fancy Washington ballroom, Trump and the media glimpsed the edge of the abyss.

US law enforcement officials are reportedly reassessing security arrangements after a gunman opened fire near the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, raising questions about how he was able to get so close to an event attended by president Donald Trump, cabinet members and lawmakers.

Former Secret Service agents and senior US officials told the Reuters news agency that federal agents appeared to carry out their plan to protect the president effectively on Saturday night, stopping the alleged gunman before he reached the basement level of the Washington Hilton, where Trump was set to speak.

But the fact that some attendees could hear the shots fired at a Secret Service agent underscored vulnerabilities, the officials said.

The most obvious lesson from the incident, the former law enforcement officials said, is that security personnel may need to expand the protective perimeter around the president at large public venues, even if that leads to public inconvenience.

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Anti-Trump sentiment being examined as motive for White House press dinner shooting

Investigators are looking into anti-Trump sentiment as being a motive for the attacker who sought to breach the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington DC where the US president and top members of his administration were present.

Backing up that view is a manifesto reportedly written by the suspect, who has been identified as Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, California. In the alleged manifesto, which was published in full by the New York Post, Allen created a list of targets for the shooting, ranked from highest to lowest priority, with Trump administration officials at the top.

_{Read the full story}

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Trump tells 60 Minutes he ‘wasn’t worried’ during correspondents’ dinner shooting

Donald Trump spoke with CBS correspondent Norah O’Donnell in an interview that aired Sunday night on 60 Minutes describing his ordeal at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner when shots rang out.

“I wasn’t worried,” Trump said in the interview when asked how worried he was about possible injuries after hearing the gun shots. “I understand life. We live in a crazy world.”

_{Read the full story}

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Washington in shock after White House press dinner shooting: ‘an angry, polarized nation’

A stunned Washington faced searching questions about political violence and gun control on Sunday after shots were fired at a prestigious media gala attended by Donald Trump and senior White House officials.

A man targeted a Secret Service agent at a security checkpoint in the Washington Hilton hotel the previous night before being tackled and arrested. Trump and Melania Trump were rushed out of the annual White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) dinner as guests dived for cover under tables.

_{Read the full story}

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King Charles’s security for US visit under review after Washington shooting

King Charles’s security is being reviewed before his state visit to the US this week, Buckingham Palace has said, after a gunman attempted to storm a dinner attended by Donald Trump in Washington DC.

In a statement on Sunday evening, Buckingham Palace said: “Following discussions on both sides of the Atlantic through the day, and acting on advice of government, we can confirm the state visit by their majesties will proceed as planned.

_{Read the full story}

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US is taking a ‘real risk’ with hasty shift in efforts to fight HIV, experts say

The US government released likely the last report from Pepfar (President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief) earlier this month and the chief science officer announced his resignation days later as the US moves to a patchwork of individual partnerships with each country, potentially driven by resource extraction.

_{Read the full story}

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No headway in Middle East peace efforts as US and Iran refuse to yield

Hopes of a breakthrough in negotiations between Iran and the US faded further on Sunday, amid a deepening sense of deadlock in the nearly two-month-long conflict despite intense regional diplomatic activity.

Washington and Tehran appear unwilling to moderate rhetoric or make concessions, and there are no negotiations scheduled that might bring the war to a definitive end.

_{Read the full story}

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What else happened today:

• Ahead of this year’s White House correspondents’ dinner, conversations centered on the role of the media and freedom of the press. Instead – as Rachel Leingang writes – the event ended like many in the US do: with gun violence.

• Leaders from around the world have condemned the shooting at the White House correspondents’ dinner on Saturday night as an act of “political violence” and expressed relief that Donald Trump, officials and journalists were unharmed.

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Catching up? Here’s what happened Saturday 25 April.