How King Charles’ diplomatic visit to the US is viewed in the UK
King Charles and Queen Camilla are in the United States this week as part of a state visit to mark the nation’s 250th anniversary.
LONDON – Charles III is not an elected politician. However, his visit to the United States has political implications.
But the king’s state visit to the United States to commemorate the country’s 250th anniversary comes amid a growing radical political movement at home, reflecting the political divisions Americans face and focusing attention on Britain’s relationship with President Donald Trump.
A recent Ipsos UK poll, which asked people who they thought would win, put far-right Reform UK and far-left liberal Greens in the lead ahead of the UK-wide general election on May 7. Meanwhile, polls suggest voters expect mainstream Labor and the Conservatives to lose. And an April 2026 Ipsos poll in the UK shows Reform UK in the lead, with 25% of voters saying they would vote for a far-right party and 17% saying they would vote for the Greens.
Although these more innovative and radical parties are not officially associated with U.S. political movements, their origin stories share similarities.
“They have similar domestic causes,” Tony Travers, associate dean of the School of Public Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science, told USA TODAY, citing high cost of living and immigration concerns as key factors. “These are turbulent times for the UK government.”
Here, we introduce the current state of British politics ahead of the King’s visit and why it is important for Americans.
Current state of British politics
David Dunn, a professor of international politics at the University of Birmingham, said the king’s visit comes amid increasingly sharp political rifts.The Liberal Labor Party, which currently holds power in parliament, is growing unpopular.
Dunn explains that while the cost of living continues to rise, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is in a vulnerable position after being criticized for breaking his campaign promises, including backtracking on his promise to abolish tuition fees for students. He has also come under fire for his selection of the U.S. ambassador, who was fired and arrested for his ties to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
“Anti-incumbent tendencies mean a willingness to deviate from the two major parties,” Dunn said. “A rift is emerging in British politics.”
MAGA and Reform UK are “similar but different,” experts say
Dissatisfaction with Britain’s main political parties has led to the rise of a hard-line coalition that pitches itself as changemakers.
Just as Make American Great Again came out of the Republican Party, Reform UK broke away from the traditional Conservative Party, Dunn says. Reform UK aligns itself with the driving force behind MAGA in promoting a crackdown on immigration and condemning the current government for its failures on affordability.
Like MAGA, Reform UK has a highly charismatic leader in Nigel Farage, who, like Trump, advocates for a fundamental shift from the status quo and sees himself as a leader from outside the political system, Dunn explains.
“You can understand where Reform came from the same way you understand where MAGA came from,” he says. “By promising to do the opposite all at once,[Farage]can build a coalition of support.”
Mr Travers says Reform UK is “similar but different” to MAGA. Although Reform Britain is distinctly secular, Travers says Christian nationalist values underpin MAGA. And the cause is crucially centered on British concerns, particularly the economic impact of the UK’s 2016 referendum to leave the European Union.
And Reform Britain is also working to build its own image apart from Trump, Travers said.
“Mr Farage is trying to distance himself from Mr Trump…Trump is not working well in British politics,” Mr Travers said. “Even though reformers have similar concerns as those who vote for MAGA.”
The far left follows Mamdani’s success
While reform and MAGA are not exact parallels, Travers says the Green Party, another far-left party on the rise in Britain, intends to emulate the success of the progressive campaign of newly-minted New York Mayor Zoran Mamdani. He said London MP Zac Polanski’s Green Party saw Mamdani as a “hero”.
“Mr. Polanski wants to follow Mamdani’s path and get votes,” Travers said. For liberals who think Labor is too soft on progressive causes, the Greens are popular as a new platform to fight youth unemployment and increase public funding for health care.
“Polanski wants to follow Mamdani’s path,” Travers says.
The king is “political in lower case”
Dunn said Charles’ visit also comes amid Trump’s declining popularity among the British public. The president’s push to war with Iran is pushing up global oil prices, while his tariff policies continue to increase costs for the British public. And tensions are worsening over the US’ use of British air bases for wars in the Middle East, he says.
“He’s someone who doesn’t fit in well with the British public,” Dunn says. Some may want the king to avoid the president. Some may see the king’s role as going beyond the current political turmoil, he says.
“When the British public sees Charles meeting with Trump and the president of China, they will know that this is part of diplomatic magic to smooth over diplomatic rifts,” Travers said.
King Charles heads to Washington DC as global tensions rise
King Charles becomes the first monarch to visit the United States. Will he be able to stabilize U.S.-UK relations amid rising global tensions?
The king is not an elected official and has no political power. In any case, Dunn said the meeting with President Trump was not indicative of the king’s political stance. Representing the country and keeping his political beliefs to himself is part of Charles’ job description, Travers said, following in the footsteps of presidents whose mothers transcended the political spectrum.
“It’s not the individual people that are being celebrated here, but the broader relationships and the big picture,” Dunn says.
But he is the head of state of Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom, key members of an international alliance with the United States, and experts say it is his job to remind Trump of the symbolic value of those relationships at a time when global security is at stake.
“The stakes are very high,” Travers said. “The future of NATO, peace in Europe, peace in the Middle East are all to some extent in the hands of King Charles… reinforced by the fact that the British government is in a very weak position domestically at the moment… he is political with a ‘lowercase p’.”
