Ahead of King Charles’ upcoming visit to Washington DC, it is worth looking back at the long relationship between the White House and Buckingham Palace. Although American presidents and British royals are fast friends today, this wasn’t always the case.
King George III was, of course, the villain in our story of the American Revolution, and he was still in the picture during the War of 1812, in which British troops burned down the White House.
In the mid-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” aloud to the royal family. Abolitionists may have liked this, but it was less favorably received in the slaveholding South.
In the late 19th century, things began to change due to both technological and diplomatic advances. The United States and Great Britain began to recognize 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 state visit of the President of the United States of America to Windsor Castle on September 17, 2025 in Windsor, England. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
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When former President Theodore Roosevelt broadcast the first transatlantic message by radio in 1903, he addressed it to Britain’s King Edward VII and said:
“Taking advantage of the wonderful triumph of research and ingenuity achieved in perfecting a system of wireless telegraphy, I offer, on behalf of the American people, the warmest greetings and good wishes to you and all the people of the British Empire.”
In the 1910s, the US and Britain grew closer as allies against Germany in World War I. In 1939, King George VI made the first visit by a British royal family to the White House, visiting former President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
President Donald Trump gestures next to Britain’s King Charles III before leaving Windsor Castle in Windsor, England on September 18, 2025. (Evan Vucci/AP)
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However, the US still had a bit of an anti-royal chip on its shoulder. Roosevelt famously served hot dogs to the king and queen to show his connection to the common man.
Our nations have become even closer as a result of our alliance in both World War II and the subsequent Cold War. Improvements in transatlantic travel meant that visits by presidents to London and royals to Washington became semi-regular events.
During her 70-year reign from 1952 to 2022, Queen Elizabeth II met with 13 of the 14 presidents who held office during that period. This included every sitting US president from Dwight D. Eisenhower to Joe Biden, with the sole 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)
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Although the Queen’s role was now largely ceremonial, there was sometimes a diplomatic component to her visits. When she visited Eisenhower in 1957, she helped defuse tensions that had arisen between Britain and the US as a result of the Suez Crisis.
Sometimes there was a larger, more public element to her visits. In 1976, Queen Elizabeth spoke at the White House during a visit to former President Gerald Ford during the American bicentennial, perhaps showing that Britain had finally put the 1776 stuff behind it.
In recent decades, almost every president has had some interaction with 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, during the final day of Trump’s second British state visit. (Aaron Chown/WPA Pool/Getty Images)
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Queen Elizabeth also awarded former President Ronald Reagan an honorary knighthood in 1989 after he left office. Former President George HW Bush had the Queen on his legendary 30,000-person Christmas card list.
In December 2000, with the presidential election to determine his successor still in doubt, former President Bill Clinton had tea with Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace.
When I served in George W. Bush’s White House, I remember Karl Rove telling a very funny story about being at Buckingham Palace with Bush and forgetting a pair of socks. During an early morning meeting of senior White House staff, Rove did a boisterous imitation of a palace guard presenting a new pair of socks on a silver tray to the “Right Honorable Mr. Rove.”
At times there were diplomatic hiccups: Former President Barack Obama received some backlash for gifting the Queen an iPod in 2009. It turns out she already had one. Biden got better marks because he gave her a sterling silver box from Tiffany & Co. with personalized engravings.
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And now, as King Charles begins his first visit to the US in President Donald Trump’s second term, the US and Britain are in the middle of a disagreement over the war with Iran.
Charles is not a political ruler, but perhaps his visit, like his mother’s in 1957, can ease tensions and help maintain America’s long-standing special relationship with Britain.
