GB News royal correspondent Cameron Walker has claimed that King Charles is facing a "huge conundrum" over President Trump's upcoming state visit.Speaking on GB News, Cameron explained that the King finds himself in a "constitutionally awkward position" as he serves as monarch of both the United Kingdom and Canada, whilst Trump has repeatedly suggested Canada could become America's 51st state.READ THE FULL STORY HERE
00:00has known President Trump for many years and looks forward to hosting him and the First Lady later this year.
00:06Well, we know that. He's coming in September. We've known for ages.
00:10Andrew Pearce, have you just undermined our breaking news?
00:13It's not breaking news. We've known for ages.
00:14Well, listen, Cameron Walker is here with the breaking news to explain why this is relevant.
00:18He gave him the invitation in the White House.
00:20Well, so, there's been a bit of confusion over this invitation in the White House.
00:23My sources tell me King Buckingham Palace not happy with Sir Keir Starmer,
00:27that he handed over that letter to the king in front of, to the president even, in front of the cameras.
00:33That was meant to be a private visit, inviting him in the summer to Balmoral for the king to discuss a state visit later on in President Trump's terms.
00:44Now, from my understanding, the king, it was reported in The Times this morning,
00:49but from my understanding, the king was a little bit cautious about inviting Trump so soon for a state visit,
00:54given what he'd said about Canada wanting to become the 51st state of the United States of America.
01:02And, of course, that puts the king in a constitutionally problematic situation because he is king of Canada and the United Kingdom.
01:09But, of course, he has to act on the advice of the United Kingdom.
01:12Anyway, fast forward to the last couple of minutes and the palace has confirmed to me that the official invitation was handed over to the White House last week.
01:23And, as you said, that statement from a palace spokesperson says His Majesty has known President Trump for many years
01:31and looks forward to hosting him and the First Lady later this year.
01:35And, as you said, Andrew, that is expected to be September as President Trump.
01:38Fascinating. I could never understand how it was going to be a diplomatic, successful diplomatic operation
01:45when Canada, when we'd had the President of the United States, trying to turn Canada into the 51st state.
01:50And that is the king's realm.
01:52Yeah. Well, it's a huge conundrum, isn't it?
01:54Because Keir Starmer's, from Keir Starmer's perspective, the Prime Minister,
01:58he wants the king to essentially butter up President Trump.
02:02Because Trump has a huge fascination with the royal family, a huge love for the royal family.
02:06So the king rolling out the red carpet for President Trump at Windsor Castle is huge kudos for Keir Starmer
02:12because it does strengthen that diplomatic relationship between the United Kingdom and the United States,
02:16perhaps leading for better trade deals, perhaps leading to better relations
02:20when President Trump is perhaps slightly more hostile towards the European Union, for example.
02:26But at the same time, Mark Carney in Canada, incredibly disappointed,
02:30or he says the Canadians incredibly disappointed with the UK government
02:33for inviting President Trump for a state visit.
02:35And the idea if he'd gone up to Balmoral, President Trump would not have wanted to be buried away in the wild of Scotland.
02:42No. So he is expected to be in this summer at his golf course in Aberdeenshire, Trump and Turnberry,
02:47which is only an hour away from Balmoral Castle.
02:50And that was meant to be kind of informal discussions about the state's visits,
02:54planning it together, that sort of thing, for a year or two's time.
02:57But it looks like the Prime Minister wants that state visit to happen sooner rather than later.
03:03And we have had confirmation from the palace in the last few minutes that it will definitely be happening,
03:08a full bells and whistles state visit for President Trump this September.
03:13The most surprising bit of that story, Cameron, is the fact that King Charles did not give Keir Starmer permission
03:19to hand over that obsequious kind of that invitation on the global stage in the White House.
03:27Yes.
03:28So King Charles was sat at home watching that and went, hang on a minute.
03:32No one told me.
03:33No, you weren't supposed to do that in public.
03:34That was a private gesture.
03:36So either Keir Starmer has misunderstood the nature of that invitation or he cares so little about what King Charles thinks
03:45that he used it to his advantage and leveraged that relationship with it.
03:49It's the latter.
03:50At Palisade, 12 times, the idea was that the letter would be handed over in private to Donald Trump at the same time
03:56that he is reminded or encouraged not to bring up the 51st State of the United States of America.
04:00It's outrageous.
04:01And I wonder if he'd have dared to have done that, Starmer, if we still had Queen Elizabeth on the throne.
04:05He'd been a monarch for 70-odd years.
04:08Well, we're not sure.
04:09Thank you, Cameron, for coming in and giving us that.
