King Charles jokes at dinner with Trump: “Without us, you'd be speaking French” / “We tried to remodel the White House in 1814 too”
King Charles III joked with Donald Trump on Tuesday, during the state dinner at the White House, saying that Americans would speak French if the British had not also colonized North America, reports AFP.
The British sovereign thus referred to the statements of the American president in January, when he told the Europeans, at the Davos summit, that without the American support during the Second World War, “you would speak German and a little Japanese.”
In a speech delivered in the sumptuous rooms of the White House, Charles III, who is on a state visit on Monday, evoked both the British and French origins of the many place names in the United States, due to the settlement, in the past, of the colonists of the two former rival powers.
“You recently stated, Mr. President, that without the United States, European countries would be speaking German. I dare say that without us you would be speaking French,” the sovereign joked, prompting laughter from the audience.
Serial jokes made by Charles and Trump
The king also joked about “remodeling” at the White House, especially the expensive ballroom project backed by the Republican billionaire.
“I'm sorry to say that we British, of course, tried our own project to redevelop the White House estate in 1814,” he said, referring to the fact that in that year British soldiers burned down the building.
Charles III also teased his allies, stating that this dinner was “a vast improvement over the Boston Tea Party” when, in 1773, colonists dumped heavily taxed cargoes of British tea overboard.
Donald Trump, for his part, took aim at his domestic political opponents with his own jokes.
“I want to congratulate Charles on the fantastic speech he gave to Congress today. He was able to get Democrats to stand up, which I have never been able to do,” he said.
Charles III and Donald Trump have both hailed the “special relationship” linking London to Washington despite disagreements over the Iran war.
The king presented his interlocutor with the bell of an aptly named ship, HMS Trump, a British submarine commissioned in 1944: “May it be a testament to our nations' shared history and their bright future. And if one day you need to contact us, don't hesitate to call us.”
