Mamdani to meet the monarchs

Trump warmly welcomed the King and Queen. The democratic socialist mayor of New York City? Not so much.

Britain's Queen Camilla and King Charles III speak while President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump watch a state visit arrival ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House on April 28, 2026, in Washington. | Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP

NEW YORK — The British royals were once welcomed to New York City with a ticker tape parade. This week, they’ll have to settle for a solemn appearance with Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

King Charles III and Queen Camilla are set to arrive in the nation’s largest city Wednesday as part of their four-day U.S. visit — ostensibly to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary, privately to conduct an emergency diplomacy mission aimed at President Donald Trump amid fraying transatlantic relations.

At a planned wreath laying ceremony at Ground Zero, the heads of the royal family will also come face to face with an ascendant wing of the Democratic Party whose ideals run counter to the notion of a monarchy and, in Mamdani, a standard bearer whose personal history is bound up with the legacy of British imperialism.

© Politico