It was billed as an evening celebrating press freedom, and cagey engagement of US political media stars and executives with an administration that has been bearing down harshly on its press critics. The White House correspondents’ dinner is the “media prom” of the year at the Washington Hilton, amid pre-cocktails and red-carpet walks for guests in ballgowns and tuxedos.
The buzz, as Sinatra tunes played and the room settled down to the starters, was about how a President who has spurned the event since 2017 would mark his return and handle his speech. But then those starters were strewn across the floor as guests dived for cover, the President and JD Vance were bundled off stage and armed security agents swarmed the room.
Ten minutes before the shots were fired, I had crossed the lobby from where the gunman had descended the escalators and had sought to charge through the magnetometer security checkpoints right outside the door to the ballroom, unleashing volleys as security guards drew guns within seconds and brought him to the floor.
We had little idea that this was as serious as it was. Police later said the suspect was armed with a shotgun, handgun and multiple knives. The uncomfortable truth dawned as we threaded our way back towards the bathroom and plainclothes security men shouted at us to get out of the way – pushing a surging crowd to the walls and the corridors to create a gangway for yet more security detail and armed police.
Outside, a massive drone was monitoring the front of the hotel, sirens squealing, side streets cut off by police cars. The prospect of after parties, deemed hot tickets only a few hours before, paled and we shambled home like stunned Cinderellas in evening wear, incongruous on the quiet streets, traffic blocked at junctions and more swarms of police and security.
Watching the President on TV give a composed and well-modulated speech from the White House shortly afterward was really when the enormity struck me: I also watched him, bullishly triumphant, on the stage in Milwaukee at the Republican Convention in the summer of 2024 the day after the attempt on his life in Butler.
This time, he was almost understated: describing the events as something that “comes with the territory” and casually deriding the assailant as “a whack job”. Despite the bravado, it brought home the fact that gun violence and politically-motivated assaults are a tragically frequent concomitant of US politics (Ronald Reagan narrowly escaped death when shot at the same Washington Hilton in 1981 – a change of venue now feels like a good idea).
Washington is in shock at what could have been a tragedy rather than a bizarre scare. In these circumstances the visit of the King and Queen takes on an entirely different complexion. A visit intended to celebrate 250 years of US independence, while also smoothing over tensions that have spiralled between Keir Starmer’s government and Trump administration over the Iran crisis, trade and security misalignments, will now take place in the sombre aftermath of this attack – indeed the suspect, 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen of Torrance, California, is likely to be charged in court on the first day of the visit.
The King will call for unity and highlight shared values over decades between the US and UK in a speech which will be tweaked to reflect the anxious mood and offer consolation, deepening personal connection.
The private tea with which the visit starts before a huge garden party at the embassy will hardly lack for a conversation starter. In the pragmatic sense of never letting a crisis go to waste, this is also a moment which will put the UK-US relationship firmly in the centre of American events – Charles has visited America some 20 times, and met Reagan only a couple of months after the Washington assassination attempt by John Hinckley Jr.
That underlines the intention of this visit – namely to prove that Britain and America can strengthen an enduring relationship, even as the Trump administration and Labour’s Starmer government have become noisily at odds over the Iran crisis.
But as one senior diplomat here observes, behind the glitz the problems are deeply ingrained. The Foreign Office is far from pleased that as the pressures have risen in the Gulf and Labour seeks to shore up its low support at home, ministers, including the Chancellor on her trip here for the IMF meetings, have become outspoken about the war – Reeves called it “folly”, which went down badly among senior UK diplomats and trade officials here.
Kurt Volker, a former US ambassador to Nato, told me this week for Politico that saying less would be a good idea: “You might think that this is a huge folly and going to have terrible consequences, but you don’t have to say it.
“By saying it, you alienate Donald Trump and risk that he will then link your unhappiness with his policies to his unhappiness for some of your policies.”
The challenge of this royal sojourn will be to reset conversations, and cool that ratchet effect which turns disagreements into standoffs. One senior UK official also points to the need for Starmer to ensure his enthusiasm for reconnecting with the EU is framed more carefully to avoid looking like a snub to a sensitive administration, which often views institutional Europe as an antagonist.
Add to that the underlying list of “let’s not go there” topics which the government, as the Foreign Secretary accompanies the visit, will devoutly hope will not surface if their host has one of his wilder unscripted moments. Material on that front includes the Epstein files, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Trump’s views on Britain’s alleged failings on immigration.
The US remains an indispensable partner in trade and security – but one less keen to keep the ties that bind, once the pomp and circumstance is over. If Charles’s presence at a traumatic time can ameliorate that, he will have played an historic role.
The President’s generally magnanimous mood in his press conference showed that he is plainly resilient in crises. There were a few political barbs and boasts, but a far less confrontational tone than we witnessed in the “fight, fight, fight” response to the Butler shooting and with a nice note of sympathy for the shaken dinner chairwoman, who had to be bundled off the stage in the melee.
“We’ll do it again within the next 30 days and we’ll make it bigger and better,” vowed a President never undersold on flourishes. Barring a more tragic outcome, the beneficiary of violent attacks on Donald Trump is always the man himself.
Anne McElvoy is executive editor at Politico and co-host of podcast Politics at Sam and Anne’s
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