King Charles and Queen Camilla Come to Washington

The planning for the royal visit to Washington, in celebration of America’s semiquincentennial, was under way long before the British Embassy even knew who would win the 2024 Presidential election. Last week, in anticipation of His Majesty’s arrival, maintenance crews adorned lampposts near the White House with the Union Jack—except they actually got it wrong, and hung the Australian flag. The error, as the Transportation Secretary’s office put it, was soon rectified. When King Charles and Queen Camilla landed on Monday, they were received by President Donald Trump and the First Lady in the West Wing for tea and for a tour of the White House’s new beehives; a bee landed on Trump’s outstretched palm, which he displayed for the royal couple and Melania.The next morning, as part of Charles’s welcome ceremony, American military units and bands marched through rain on the South Lawn. Occasional banging and clanging from Trump’s ballroom-construction project was audible whenever the music stopped; a crane hovered above, and the U.K. press pool joked that its operators had the best view. (Charles gently referred to the gaping hole where the East Wing once stood as Trump’s “readjustment.”)“What a beautiful, British day this is,” Trump said, looking