Royal Family Fans Royal Family Fans
A former British ambassador to Washington has suggested that the planned state visit by King Charles and Queen Camilla to the United States next month should be delayed or possibly cancelled while the country remains involved in its conflict with Iran.
Sir Peter Westmacott, who served as Britain’s ambassador in Washington between 2012 and 2016, described the planned April trip as “problematic” under the current circumstances.
The 75-year-old diplomat, who once worked as the King’s deputy private secretary, argued that government ministers “have a duty to protect the monarchy in a situation like this” and should also “reflect public opinion in this country.”
He also pointed out that the British Government initially considered America’s military campaign to be illegal.
Speaking on The Royals podcast, Sir Peter went further, suggesting that some American military operations could amount to war crimes.
“The sinking of that ship [Iris Dena] unarmed off the coast of Sri Lanka, the bombing of the girls’ school because the United States government hadn’t done proper targeting – this is pretty horrific. This is war crime stuff,” he said.
The experienced diplomat, who also served as ambassador to France and Turkey, suggested that both Downing Street and Buckingham Palace would likely be considering whether a royal visit at this time might be seen as an endorsement of President Trump’s actions.
“While this goes on, that must be a matter for discussion,” he added.
A YouGov poll of more than 12,000 participants published last week found that 46 percent believe the royal visit should be cancelled, while 36 percent think it should still take place and 18 percent remain undecided.
READ MORE: Princess Kate to Attend St Patrick’s Day Parade With the Irish Guards
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has led calls in Parliament to cancel the trip, arguing that it would give Trump a “huge diplomatic coup” at a time when relations between Sir Keir Starmer and Washington are already strained over the US and Israeli conflict with Iran.
Downing Street has declined to comment, noting that the visit has not yet been officially announced. A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said, “All state visits are on the advice of Government.”
Sir Peter suggested that postponing the trip, rather than cancelling it outright, could be a more balanced approach if the conflict continues. In his view, this would avoid provoking the American president while still protecting the UK’s relationship with the United States.
“A postponement is something quite different from a cancellation as a political gesture – that’s a statesmanlike way of managing the issue. It is too important a relationship for us to mess with and to risk antagonising a somewhat thin-skinned president,” he explained.
The former diplomat also raised questions about what concrete advantages Britain gained from Mr Trump’s second state visit to the UK last year.
“We didn’t get more helpful public statements about the United Kingdom. We didn’t get an end to tariff wars. We didn’t get anything more helpful from him on Ukraine,” he observed.
