29 April 2026 | Washington, D.C. / New York City
NEW YORK – In a way, it must be tough being king. One day, you're lauded by the US president, applauded by Congress, and served spring-herbed ravioli and parmesan emulsion on a golden plate.
The next, you're essentially snubbed by the mayor of New York City, who makes it clear that a) he does not want to meet you, and b) you should return a diamond that your ancestors took from a 10-year-old Indian boy.
That's the situation King Charles III faced in America's largest city on Wednesday, as the monarch arrived to attend a wreath-laying ceremony to honor 9/11 victims. The trip came a day after Charles received plaudits for his turn in Washington, D.C., his easy rapport with Donald Trump, and a well-pitched speech to Congress seen as a step towards repairing the UK-US relationship.
But while Charles may have charmed the prestige-loving Trump, gifts of gold and wisecracks about the Boston Tea Party were never likely to appeal to Zohran Mamdani, New York's democratic socialist mayor who was elected on a promise to rein in elites – and whose father is one of the world's leading experts on the effects of colonialism.
⚡ THE CONTRAST: Gold plates at White House • Snub by NYC's socialist mayor • Return the Koh-i-Noor diamond • "He made a great speech, I was very jealous" – Trump • "An implicit reproach to the president" – Historians
"THE MAYOR WILL NOT MEET PRIVATELY WITH KING CHARLES"
Mamdani's eagerness to avoid Charles was clear. His team distanced themselves from the king from the moment the 9/11 ceremony, at the World Trade Center, was announced.
"The mayor will not meet privately with King Charles. But the mayor will be at the wreath-laying ceremony today," Joe Calvello, the mayor's press secretary, said in a terse statement on Wednesday morning.
It was hardly the treatment Charles is accustomed to. But as the day unfolded, it seemed he may have gotten lucky by avoiding a private audience.
Asked on Wednesday morning what he would say to Charles if they were to spend time together beyond the ceremony, Mamdani replied: "If I was to speak to the king separately from that, I would probably encourage him to return the Koh-i-Noor diamond."
The 106-carat diamond, which currently sits in the crown worn by the queen mother, has been the subject of an ownership dispute since it came into the possession of Queen Victoria in 1849. Critics say the diamond – which is the size of a hen's egg – was immorally taken from Duleep Singh, a 10-year-old maharajah whose kingdom was seized by the British.
Buckingham Palace declined to comment on whether they would return the diamond.
— Joe Calvello, press secretary to NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani
FROM GOLD PLATES TO A SOCIALIST SIDE-EYE
At the World Trade Center, Charles and Camilla were accompanied by Mike Bloomberg, who was mayor of New York from 2002 to 2013, rather than Mamdani, as they toured the site's memorial pools and laid a wreath.
In spite of all the diamond talk, when Charles did meet Mamdani, they appeared to strike up something of a bond – the pair shaking hands and smiling during a short conversation. But the damage to the king's reception had already been done.
"It's like a CIA operation down there," said Danica Parry as she emerged from an underground subway stop close to the 9/11 site. "I was walking with people, and they're all showing their IDs at these different exits. And this lady was like: 'Do you know what's going on?' I said: 'I have no idea what's going on, but I think we're supposed to take this exit.'"
Parry eventually found her way to street level. She wasn't too upset – "this is like a weekly occurrence," she said – although she was unexcited by the visit of the royals.
"I'm pretty neutral about them. Yeah, they don't impact my life. They kind of do their own thing," Parry said. She said she did not think the US should be ruled by a hereditary monarch. "No, I am not into monarchies at all. Neither abroad nor domestic."
THE SPEECH THAT DREW RAVES – AND IMPLIED REBUKES
Before the New York snub, there was the Washington triumph. Donald Trump called the king's address to Congress "fantastic." Democrats cheered references to Magna Carta and the principle that executive power is subject to checks and balances. The joint session erupted in a standing ovation.
But beneath the jokes and decorum, there were subtle rebuttals to the president.
"Beneath King Charles's jokes and decorum, some subtle rebuttals to Trump," headlined the Washington Post. "King Charles urges checks on executive power," said the New York Times.
The fact that Charles's address was so beautifully crafted and delivered with warmth was almost in itself "an implicit reproach to the president's own rambling, undisciplined public pronouncements," said Professor Philip Murphy, the director of history and policy at the University of London.
With the UK-US "special relationship" spectacularly frayed, a lot was riding on this – the most important speech of Charles's reign to date.
It referenced the importance of NATO. It called for continued support for Ukraine. It warned of the dangers of isolationism. Mentions of Magna Carta and the principle that executive power is subject to checks and balances received rapturous applause from Democrats.
There was a very firm mention of "my prime minister," Keir Starmer – whom the president has publicly insulted – and the king's own love of the Royal Navy, which Trump has mocked.
"It's difficult to imagine he could have gone much further in what he said and what he didn't say," said the contemporary political historian Anthony Seldon, praising it as "exceptional." "He judged it incredibly well: very brave, very smart, very clever."
HOW THE SPEECH WAS MADE: RED INK AND LATE-NIGHT TWEAKS
Such speeches are teamwork. Drafts went back and forth between Buckingham Palace, Downing Street, and the Foreign Office. The king plays a major part in crafting – making marks by hand, in red ink, on printed drafts, writing commentary in the margins at considerable length, adding things in and crossing things out.
He is said to be good at jokes, with no need for a joke writer. Though which genius came up with the idea of giving the president a bell from HMS Trump – a T-class submarine launched in 1944 – is not immediately known.
What resulted was an address that appealed to much of the US political class, if not the Trump administration.
But its impact should not be judged immediately, Seldon warned. "Trump will be back to being Trump on Monday. But I wouldn't judge its impact by what Trump is going to be saying on Monday. I would judge it in the long-term sense, by what the Republicans and the Democrats do."
"He could not have done any more."
THE EPSTEIN SHADOW: A MILE FROM THE JAIL
In the wake of the shooting at the White House correspondents' dinner over the weekend, security in lower Manhattan was tight. But Charles may have been reminded of another controversy during his New York visit: he laid his wreath less than a mile from the Metropolitan Correctional Center, where Jeffrey Epstein killed himself in 2019 while awaiting trial, and a few subway stops south of Epstein's former home in Manhattan's Upper East Side, where the king's brother, Prince Andrew, was a frequent guest.
Charles has faced criticism during his US visit for refusing to meet Epstein's victims. He made no mention of the controversy as he left the 9/11 ceremony.
Instead, he was whisked to an after-school urban farming project in Harlem. Camilla traveled to the New York Public Library, where she planned to gift a stuffed kangaroo to the library's collection of soft-toy Winnie-the-Pooh characters.
The king's biographer and friend, Jonathan Dimbleby, felt the address contained both an "implied rebuke to Trumpery" and an "eloquent plea" to remember democracy, the rule of law, and checks and balances, as well as stressing that the relationship between Europe and the US was now more important than ever before.
Lord Darroch, former UK ambassador to the US, believed it was "brave and bold and actually really excellent." While there was no direct criticism of the US administration, "it was full of implied rebuke."
WHAT IT ALL MEANS: THE LONG GAME
So, what does this uneven US welcome add up to? A king who can charm Trump but get snubbed by a socialist mayor. A speech that drew raves from historians but may have done little to change the president's mind. A "special relationship" that looks more frayed than ever.
Republican congressman and former diplomat Michael Baumgartner thought Charles did "a great job for Great Britain." But somewhat throwing the king's own words back at him, he said: "What matters is not words but actions. And we'll need to see action from the British people in terms of fulfilling those promises as well."
As for whether it would heal the rift between president and prime minister, Baumgartner's personal feelings towards Starmer appeared unchanged. Referring to him as a "leftist weeny," he told Newsnight: "I think we saw in the king what we traditionally would like to see from Great Britain. Certainly Keir Starmer does not have a lot of respect. He is not perceived as being strong and capable here in the US."
The king has returned to the UK. The gold plates have been cleared. The diamond remains in the crown. And the mayor of New York has made his point.
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