When British monarch King Charles recently addressed a joint meeting of the US Congress — on the 250th anniversary of American independence — he was met with loud and prolonged applause at nearly every turn with both Democrats and Republicans giving him standing ovations.
Charles’ presence was not meant to be a “rear-guard action” but a chance for him to express his thoughts, insights and wisdom anchored on long tradition, history and political milestones.
His Majesty’s speech was soft, light, polished, polite, diplomatic, sardonic, platonic, straightforward — a departure from the usual clichés, rhetoric, motherhood, semantics, sophistry that other state leaders deliver.
To call Charles’ speech a masterclass is an understatement. Did it miss out on anything trivial or crucial? It was packed with all the wit, humor, candor and acumen that it could bear and covered every ground, whether history, humanity, shared values, moral codes, and common ideals grounded on years and centuries of sustained reverence and praxis.
This commonality helps confront contemporary challenges, uncertainties, and realities that affect Europe, the Middle East, and other regions of the world.
Some observers might choose to interpret the event as an act of affirmative faith in the leadership of US President Donald Trump instead of a rejection of the brutish approach Trump has taken in the Iran War since the pendulum of violence swings from both sides of the aisle.
This made Charles’ message a gospel of “dos and don’ts” and how any act of violence shall not succeed, much less strain the partnership, friendship, and long association that the US and UK over centuries and kingdoms have built. Charles made mention of Trump’s statement in his last visit to the UK, viz., “The bond is priceless and eternal. It’s irreplaceable and unbreakable.”
Along with a principled conviction against acts of violence, Charles embraced “valuing all people of all faiths.” In large measure, the speech reaffirmed that the US and UK as like-minded governments, could “work together on common ground, stand united to uphold democracy, protect their people from harm, and salute those who risk their lives in the service of their country.”
Both Democrats and Republicans, all freedom-loving Americans across the US continent and beyond must have King Charles’ address committed to memory, etched in their hearts, and as a guiding lamp, even while three out of five Americans struggle to make sense of what Trump may be doing in the Iran War.
It has cost several American lives, hundreds of billions worth of US weaponry dropped from the air in wanton abandon against the retaliatory attacks of an “offended” sovereign state with a theocratic form of government and a non-adherent to US hegemony in world affairs.
It’s far from the voice of the American people that such a war be fought, the battle be won, if in doing so it doesn’t a bit “advance sacred rights and freedoms” since it must cut both ways, meaning what is true of the US must be true of Iran, Lebanon, Pakistan and Ukraine.
In sum, with the spirit of 1776, “a partnership born out of dispute;” the Declaration of Rights of 1689 that subjects executive power to the rule of law; the basis of American rights of 1791 as a shared, deep-rooted inheritance from British history — all these are foundational influences passed on to America’s founding fathers, not the least, the so-called “A Tale of Two Georges” referring to the relationship and parallel lives of George Washington and Charles’ ancestor, King George III.
Overarchingly stating it, a shared democratic value and like-mindedness are a product of “common democratic legal and social traditions of both governments that remain rooted to this day,” hence, the US and the UK are expected to work for the benefit of not just their people but for all peoples, especially when they find the way to agree — the very social ingredient in their mutual relationship.
Two modern-day Georges must not clash!