It will be a definitive moment for King Charles III and the British monarchy. And for better or worse, it could help salvage UK-US relations after Donald Trump insulted Keir Starmer. In the public high point of his state visit, the king will mount the rostrum in the US House of Representatives on 28 April to address a joint session of Congress. Of all the British monarchs in the 250 years since US independence, only his late mother, Elizabeth II, was afforded this rare honour – and her accomplished 1991 performance brought the house down. This time could be more tricky.

Times have changed, as has the land of the free, and the biggest change is Trump. He will not be present on Capitol Hill when the king speaks, but his dark shadow lurks everywhere. Trump will undoubtedly portray Charles’s attendance at a separate White House state banquet as a royal endorsement of his person and policies. And it is precisely this galling prospect of a presidential propaganda coup that has led most people in Britain to oppose the visit. Starmer, in contrast, hopes it will set the badly soiled “special relationship” back on track.

If he thinks things can go back to how they were, Starmer’s dead wrong. Trump is a monster – an enemy both of Britain and US democracy. His disastrous Iran war is the latest in a series of irresponsible, ineffably foolish actions that have damaged UK interests, international stability, the global economy and the rule of law. Trump has denigrated Britain and its armed forces while sucking up to dictators such as Russia’s Vladimir Putin. He has taxed trade, undermined Nato, betrayed Ukraine and permitted Israel to turn Gaza, and now Lebanon, into killing fields. He has changed for the worse how many Britons feel about the US. Trump deserves to be castigated and shamed, not........

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