US President Trump has claimed that King Charles agreed with him that Iran should not be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon.
Speaking during a state dinner on the second day of the King and Queen’s first official visit to the US, Trump used the occasion to hail Washington’s achievements in the Iran War.
“We’re doing a little Middle East work right now … and we’re doing very well,” he said.
"We have militarily defeated that particular opponent, and we’re never going to let that opponent ever, Charles agrees with me even more than I do, we’re never going to let that opponent have a nuclear weapon.
"They know that, and they’ve known it right now, very powerfully.”
The president made the comment just hours after a bilateral private meeting with His Majesty, after which he told reporters: “It was a really good meeting. He’s a fantastic person. They’re incredible people and it’s a real honour.”
As monarch, the King is supposed to remain neutral on issues of party politics, and revealing the details of his private conversations with world leaders is generally considered a breach of royal protocol.
During his own speech at the dinner, he alluded less directly to the war and the resulting strain in UK-US relations, saying: “We have had our moments of difficulty, even in more recent history.
"When my mother visited in 1957, not the least of her tasks was to help put the ‘special’ back into our relationship after a crisis in the Middle East.”
"Nearly 70 years on, it is hard to imagine anything like that happening today,” he joked.
Asked to comment on Trump’s claim regarding the monarch’s personal view on Iran, a Buckingham Palace spokesperson said: “The King is naturally mindful of his government’s longstanding and well-known position on the prevention of nuclear proliferation.”
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