In the end, it was a royal triumph, as King Charles and Queen Camilla managed to avoid all the mines in their path (the strait of Hormuz is not the only place where they exist), and deftly repair the “special relationship”. For another few weeks, anyway.

There were plenty of reasons to be anxious, on both sides of the Atlantic, before the king’s visit to Washington and New York. It is no secret that Donald Trump’s war of choice against Iran has alienated Great Britain, and all of the Nato allies, who were not consulted in advance of the decision and have since been browbeaten for what Trump perceives as insufficient fealty.

During his many fits of pique, the president has attacked Keir Starmer with particular ferocity, simply because the prime minister briefly refused British basing rights to Americans at the outset (Starmer later reversed course). That has deepened an Anglo-American rift that was already widening over Greenland, tariffs, the Chagos Islands, and the Epstein files, which, oddly, have caused more damage in the UK than in the US (for the moment, at least).

Unsurprisingly, these tensions have degraded relations. Some in Parliament were calling on King Charles to cancel the trip. Wisely, he kept calm and carried on, charming nearly all constituencies in the United States (not a simple task, given how divided the country is).

The carefully choreographed visit included a stately speech to Congress,........

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