Posted April 28, 2026
King Charles III and Queen Camilla arrived yesterday in Washington, DC, where they met with President and Mrs. Trump for a private tea and participated in a time capsule ceremony at the British Embassy to commemorate America’s 250th anniversary. Today, the king will address both houses of Congress. This will be only the second time a British monarch has addressed a joint session, following Queen Elizabeth II’s speech during her State Visit to the US in 1991.
The royal couple will then return to the White House for a state dinner. Before leaving Washington tomorrow, they will lay a “wreath and flowers in honor of the fallen” to recognize the military alliance between the US and the UK before moving on to New York, where they will recognize the 25th anniversary of 9/11 by visiting with first responders and families of those who lost their lives on that tragic day. After visiting other organizations in the city, they will travel to Virginia to attend various events, including a block party celebrating America’s 250th birthday.
All that to say, expect the royal couple to make headlines across the rest of the week.
In one sense, it’s highly ironic that the monarch of the empire whose defeat in our War for Independence we are celebrating this year would cross the Atlantic to celebrate with us. Imagine the president of Mexico joining us in Texas to commemorate our victory at the Battle of San Jacinto.
In another sense, however, it’s not ironic at all. Only two years after independence, the US sent John Adams to England for an audience with King George III, hoping to restore trade and cultural relations with what was still the world’s great superpower. The monarch received Mr. Adams charitably because, as he wrote after the war was lost, “It is to be hoped we shall reap more advantages from their trade as friends than ever we could derive from them as Colonies.”
Britain had a tremendous need for American agricultural products, and the largely agrarian US relied on the more industrialized Britain for products they couldn’t produce themselves. America was Britain’s largest overseas market for goods before and after the revolution.
The first visit of a reigning monarch to the US was similarly pragmatic. King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (the parents of Queen Elizabeth II) traveled here in June 1939. They and President Franklin D. Roosevelt hoped positive coverage of the royal tour would win support for an Anglo-American alliance against Nazi Germany. After the war, the British and Americans continued what Winston Churchill termed their “special relationship” as they worked to rebuild Europe and thwart the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
Now commentators are watching to see if King Charles and President Trump can repair the relationship between the two nations damaged by differences over the war with Iran.
Pragmatics aside, Americans continue to be fascinated by the British royal family. One reason is the “cult of celebrity” in an era of ubiquitous social media and technology. As Yale historian Joanne Freeman notes, we can follow the royals “in a guilt-free way because they’re not ours.”
However, our fascination also stems from the fact that, as another scholar notes, “there is no comparable institution in American political or cultural life.” To the contrary, we fought a war to rid ourselves of monarchy. In American culture, where “all men are created equal,” each of us is free to be our own king. Our leaders serve us as a means to the ends of our “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
This is very much a minority view across human history. For millennia, people have been governed by monarchs thought to be appointed by God, autocrats and dictators who seized power via coups and/or military power, or theocrats who ruled in the name of their deities and religions.
Americans, by contrast, typically believe that “the best government is that which governs least.” This has theological merit: since all humans are fallen, none possess the intrinsic capacity by which to be trusted with unaccountable authority. Thus the unelected British monarch serves a largely ceremonial role as the British people elect the parties and leaders who form the practical government of the land.
Here’s the problem: While fallen people govern themselves best through consensual democracy, they are still fallen. We cannot change our sinful hearts, so we continue to sin despite the laws and governance of our land. We harm ourselves and each other in ways no government can fully prevent or regulate.
Here’s the solution: “The Lᴏʀᴅ is the true God; he is the living God and the everlasting King” (Jeremiah 10:10). When we make him our personal king, he acts in our lives and world “for the sake of [his] steadfast love and [his] faithfulness” (Psalm 115:1). “Steadfast love” translates hesed, referring to love that is unconditional and passionate. “Faithfulness” translates emet, meaning firmness, trustworthiness, constancy, stability.
Taken together, they show us that God wants us to make him our king because when we position ourselves as creatures before our Creator and subjects before our monarch, he can then do and give what is best for us. He can act only for our very best out of his unfailing and consistent love.
If we refuse to make God our king, anything we trust more than God becomes our idol. However, “those who make [idols] become like them; so do all who trust in them” (v. 8). Serving what is dead and useless renders us the same.
This is why the psalmist urges his readers, “O Israel, trust in the Lᴏʀᴅ!” (v. 9) and assures us, “He will bless those who fear the Lᴏʀᴅ, both the small and the great” (v. 13).
Now you and I have a choice.
We can relate to the King of the universe as the British people relate to their king, viewing him as a distant monarch with little relevance to their personal lives while they govern themselves as they wish. Or we can relate to him as our Lord and Master, positioning ourselves to be led in his perfect will as we experience his omnipotent and omnibenevolent best for us.
When last did you crown Jesus as your king and enthrone him in your heart? When last did you intentionally and holistically submit to his empowering Spirit and put his will ahead of your own?
Henry Blackaby wrote:
“Jesus has a right to interrupt your life. He is Lord. When you accepted him as Lord, you gave him the right to help himself to your life anytime he wants.”
Is Jesus your Lord today?
“If you had a thousand crowns, you should put them all on the head of Christ! And if you had a thousand tongues, they should all sing his praise, for he is worthy!” —William Tiptaft (1803–64)
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