Washington — It’s not a palace, but next month the White House is set to be overrun by royals.
In separate visits, President Trump is planning to host monarchs from the United Kingdom and the Netherlands next month. King Charles III is set to visit sometime in April, a source told CBS News, but there were no further details about the visit. Mr. Trump visited London last September for a state visit, and attended a lavish state dinner hosted by Charles and Queen Camilla at Windsor Castle outside London that was also attended by Prince William and his wife, Catherine, the Princess of Wales.
During a separate visit in June to the Netherlands, the president stayed with King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima at Huis ten Bosch Palace, a royal residence in The Hague. Next month, the Dutch royal couple is scheduled to stay overnight at the White House when they visit Washington. Their trip includes stops in Philadelphia and Miami, according to the Dutch National Information Service, or RVD, which added the main purpose of the working visit is to “underline economic relations.”
An overnight stay at the White House is rare for world leaders, who normally stay across the street at Blair House, which was purchased by the U.S. government during World War II.
The visits come ahead of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence by colonies originally settled by former Dutch and British citizens. Yet the visits coincide with an increasingly fraught relationship for Mr. Trump with European leaders, some of whom are especially opposed to war with Iran and his attempts to take over Greenland.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte told “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on Sunday that he understood the Iran strikes were launched without Europe’s knowledge due to “security and safety.”
“It is only logical that European countries needed a couple of weeks to come together,” Rutte said Sunday. “But at this moment, the good news is this, that since Thursday, 22 countries, most of them NATO, but also Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Bahrain, the UAE, have come together to basically answer three questions, what do we need? When do we need it? And where do we need it? These three questions are now worked through to answer the president’s call, to make sure that we secure the free sailing through the Strait of Hormuz.”
The ongoing war with Iran has led to the Strait of Hormuz being effectively closed, causing energy prices to surge worldwide. Europe’s energy costs have not yet recovered from the Russian invasion of Ukraine four years ago.
While Mr. Trump’s rhetoric has lately cooled regarding Greenland, the semi-autonomous island territory controlled by Denmark, there are no indications that he plans on back off his demands that NATO boost defense operations in the Arctic region. Earlier this year, the Netherlands expressed support for Denmark regarding Greenland, stressing Greenland’s right to decide its own future.
As for the U.K., Mr. Trump earlier this month called British Prime Minister Keir Starmer “no Winston Churchill” over Starmer’s refusal to join the Iranian war.