King to meet Trump off-camera amid clash fears before Charles’ Congress speech – US politics live

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Hello and welcome to our coverage of US news as the Trumps continue hosting King Charles and Queen Camilla during their state visit.

As expected, the British royals have a packed itinerary of events this morning including been greeted by Donald and Melania Trump at the White House, signing the guest book and exchanging gifts.

Apart from the greeting, most of the events are closed to the media and Charles will be spared the potential humiliation of being upbraided in public by Trump after the White House agreed that any meeting between the two men should be held off camera.

British officials have pushed for the Oval Office meeting between the monarch and the US president to be held off camera for fear of a repeat of the scenes when Trump berated the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in front of the world’s press.

Sources involved in planning the trip say Charles will pose for the cameras at the start of his centrepiece bilateral meeting on Tuesday, but will not be filmed talking about anything substantive.

The this afternoon, at 3pm, the king will address Congress. He is expected to allude to recent strains between the UK and US in a rare address by a monarch to the US Congress as he will underline that “time and again our two countries have always found ways to come together”.

The king’s remarks in a speech to both houses on Tuesday will come after Donald Trump has threatened to tear up a trade deal signed by the UK and US, mocked the Royal Navy and insulted the UK prime minister.

In his speech, the king is expected to reflect that while the UK and US have not always agreed on all matters over the past 250 years, the foundations of their “democratic, legal and social traditions” – stretching all the way back to Magna Carta – are such that “time and again our two countries have always found ways to come together”.