As King Charles basks in an overwhelmingly positive response following Tuesday’s speech to a joint session of Congress, he managed to secure a thumbs-up even from Donald Trump.
“Charles…made a fantastic speech today…he even got Democrats to stand. I’ve never been able to do that!” joked the president during the evening’s State Dinner at the White House.
Top Trump ally, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina was even more effusive. “Simply put: the King nailed it”, he wrote on X, calling the King’s address “a much needed boost for Congress, as he…highlighted the role Congress plays in our democratic republic”.
But in one area specifically relating to Congress’ constitutional role, the speech ignited significant and angry criticism. Hours before the King journeyed to Capitol Hill, lawmakers raised expectations that he would meet their demands to address the dark shadow cast by his brother, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, as a result of his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein.
Congressman Ro Khanna, an influential California Democrat who sits on the Oversight Committee investigating Epstein’s relationships with the wealthy and powerful, told victims that the King would acknowledge the suffering they experienced at the hands of the disgraced and deceased financier.
“I met with the British Ambassador”, Khanna revealed to victims and family members gathered in Washington on Tuesday morning. He claimed ambassador Sir Christian Turner “suggested that the King will acknowledge the Epstein survivors in his address to Congress. I hope his flunkies don’t take out the acknowledgment from his text”, Khanna warned, in comments that appeared to pile pressure on the monarch to find wording that might meet the moment.
But anyone in Washington waiting for a direct reference to Epstein by the King, or an apology for his brother’s association with the financier, was to be sorely disappointed.
Tucked into the speech was single, carefully crafted phrase, so oblique that a casual observer may not even have immediately associated it with the Epstein scandal.
“In both our countries”, the King intoned, “it is the very fact of our vibrant, diverse and free societies that gives us our collective strength, including to support victims of some of the ills that, so tragically, exist in both our societies today”.
There was no direct mention of his brother, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, in the speech to Congress (Photo: Toby Melville/Reuters)That was it. No words of regret or apology, and certainly no reference to his brother Andrew, whose fall-from-grace followed the King across the Atlantic Ocean to the seat of power here.
In the unlikely event that Buckingham Palace or No. 10 hoped the comment might satisfy Epstein’s victims, or lawmakers vowing to force the King’s brother to give evidence to their probe, it fell significantly short of the mark.
Khanna’s verdict came quickly. “Very disappointing … he really failed to meet the moral moment”, he told the left-leaning Meidas Touch Network. “I was told by the ambassador that it would be in there. It was not in there. So it really was a blow to survivors”, he complained.
Another member of the Oversight Committee, Republican Lauren Boebart of Colorado was even more withering in her review of the King’s address.
“Last night we were given a list of do’s and don’ts for the King by the Speaker, and we were told…no selfies, no touching, no hugging, no conversations. It really sounds like a list of don’ts for the Royal Family with victims”, she told reporters.
“It sounds like everything his family has already done”, she continued, in a not-so-veiled reference to misconduct allegations that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor continues to deny.
That the King’s speech came just three days after the first anniversary of the suicide of Virginia Guiffre, Epstein’s most prominent accuser, afforded other victims added impetus to demand accountability during the State Visit. Survivor Rita Oh organised a mock tea party on Capitol Hill with an empty chair marked ‘Reserved for King Charles’. “This isn’t going to go away. We’re not going to remain silent. We will continue speaking out”, she promised.
Earlier this month, Buckingham Palace cited “legal difficulties” and ongoing investigations for the King and Queen’s decision to decline invitations to meet victims this week. But Khanna described the King’s decision as “a slap in the face”, and the Oversight Committee continues to demand his brother’s co-operation with their investigation.
There may more pressure applied on America’s royal guests on Wednesday and Thursday as their State Visit continues. But their host, President Trump, may welcome the all-but-buried reference to the Epstein scandal in the King’s address, given his previously declared astonishment that anyone is still interested in discussing the crimes of his former friend.
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