King Charles III will reflect on “the increasing pressure of conflict” around the world at a “time of great challenges” during a speech scheduled for Monday.
“We come together on this Commonwealth Day at a time of great challenge and great opportunity,” says a preview of the 77-year-old’s Commonwealth Day speech.
The King’s speech continued: “Across our world, communities and nations face the increasing pressures of conflict, climate change and rapid transformation. Yet it is often in such testing moments that the enduring spirit of the Commonwealth is most evident.”
The speech will come just over a week after the US and Israel launched coordinated attacks against Iran, in which British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Britain was not participating because of their national interest.
“This is not Winston Churchill we’re dealing with,” President Donald Trump said earlier this week in a criticism of Starmer amid a perceived lack of support for the joint US-Israel military operation against Iran.
King Charles III delivers his speech on Commonwealth Day 2023. (Hannah McKay – WPA Pool/Getty Images)
“By the way, I’m not happy with Britain either,” the president said, referring to Starmer blocking the United States’ use of British bases to launch attacks on Iran.
Britain has since allowed the US to use its bases in the region for defensive purposes against Iran’s retaliatory attacks. It has also mobilized fighter jets and plans to send a destroyer and possibly an aircraft carrier.
The president on Tuesday referred to the Chagos Islands, British territories in the Indian Ocean, saying it has taken “three, four days to figure out where we can land there.”
“It would have been much more convenient to land there, instead of flying many extra hours, so we are very surprised,” he said.
The president later said that Britain is “very, very uncooperative on that stupid island.”
“It’s a shame,” Trump said. “That country, Britain, and I love that country, I love it.”
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President Trump has criticized British Prime Minister Keir Starmer for Britain’s cooperation with the US in its military action in Iran. (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
“This is not the age of Churchill,” he added.
Trump denounced Starmer again on Saturday, accusing the prime minister of joining the war after the US had “already won”.
“The United Kingdom, our once great ally, perhaps the greatest of them all, is finally seriously considering sending two aircraft carriers to the Middle East,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “That’s OK, Prime Minister Starmer, we don’t need them any longer – but we will remember. We don’t need people joining wars after we’ve already won!”
Starmer has defended his decision to stay out of the conflict, saying Britain “was not involved in the initial attacks on Iran, and we will not be joining offensive action now.”
“But in the face of Iran’s barrage of missiles and drones we will protect our people in the region,” Starmer said in a speech to parliament on Monday. “President Trump has indicated that he disagrees with our decision not to get involved in the initial strikes, but it is my duty to judge what is in Britain’s national interest. That is what I have done and I stand by it.”
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King Charles III will reflect on “the increasing pressure of conflict” around the world at a “time of great challenges” during a speech scheduled for Monday. (Andrew Matthews/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
The king and other senior royals will gather at Westminster Abbey on Monday for the annual Commonwealth Day celebration, which recognizes the 56 countries voluntarily allied with Britain, many of which were once part of the British Empire.
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The preview of the speech continues: ‘Working together, we can ensure that the Commonwealth remains a force for good – rooted in community, committed to the kind of restorative sustainability that delivers returns on investment, enriched by culture, steadfast in its care for our planet, and united in friendship and in service to its people.’
Charles’ speech at the abbey will also be the biggest gathering of the royal family since the former Prince Andrew was arrested on February 19.
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