Veteran broadcaster David Dimbleby has branded a visit by the King and Queen to US president Donald Trump “an acute embarrassment”, saying the government should have postponed it.
The royal couple will attend a state dinner at the White House, and the King will address Congress during next month’s visit, Buckingham Palace announced on Tuesday.
Mr Trump’s critics in the UK have opposed the planned visit for weeks, and more than 140,000 people have signed a petition calling for the trip to be cancelled, after Mr Trump’s repeated verbal attacks on Britain, on Nato and on European countries that did not join the US in his war on Iran.
Mr Dimbleby, who has previously said he is irritated by deference to the monarchy and who made a television series called What’s the Monarchy For?, said the visit was not a good idea and accepting the invitation was an acute embarrassment.
The King was at the mercy of the government, he told BBC Radio 4’s PM. “The government says, go, so he goes.”
He said: “I feel sorry for him going and, you know, having to sit down to a state dinner with a man who has insulted the British troops in Afghanistan and said they weren’t particularly important and weren’t needed, who’s insulted – I’m not talking about insulting the government – but insulted our Royal Navy.”
Referring to Mr Trump, the former BBC Question Time host added: “You know, [he] goes out of his way to be rude about Britain and about Nato and who’s a narcissist and a bully, and the way to stand up for bullies is not to take it – but it seems that that’s not the government’s view.”
He said: “I was rather hoping that they might find a way of dodging the column by postponing the visit while what was going on in Iran, was going on and say, ‘this not perhaps an appropriate moment to go’.”
Jonathan Dimbleby, David Dimbleby’s brother, is a long-time friend and confidant of the King.
Just minutes before Buckingham Palace announced the royal visit, Mr Trump launched into a bitter tirade against the UK over the war on Iran, warning “the US won’t be there to help you any more, just like you weren’t there for us”.
He wrote on Truth Social that Britain should “build up some delayed courage” and go and take oil itself now that the US had “done the hard part”.
The visit, which will mark the 250th anniversary of American independence, will “celebrate the historic connections” between the UK and the US, officials said.
It will be the first state visit by a British monarch to America for nearly 20 years, since that of Queen Elizabeth II in 2007, when President George W Bush winked at her on the White House lawn after making one of his famous gaffes.
The UK rolled out the red carpet for Mr Trump’s second state visit to the UK last September, which was a glittering occasion featuring a sumptuous banquet served on 200-year-old silver.
The president’s rants have strained the US-UK relationship. Mr Trump has branded the UK’s approach to the conflict “terrible” and repeatedly lashed out at Sir Keir Starmer, including describing him as “not Winston Churchill”.
In January, the US leader provoked anger among British politicians and veteran fighters by claiming Nato soldiers avoided the front lines in the war in Afghanistan.
Mr Trump suggested that Nato allied troops had “stayed a little off the front lines”.
Last week, Mr Trump likened UK aircraft carriers to toys, telling Sir Keir Starmer “not to bother” sending vessels to the Gulf.
“We don’t need it, and we don’t need it, and we don’t need them. They’re toys compared to what we have,” he said.
And US defence secretary Pete Hegseth mocked the Royal Navy.
“There are countries around the world who ought be prepared to step up on this critical waterway as well,” he said referring to the Strait of Hormuz.
“Last time I checked, there was supposed to be a big, bad Royal Navy that could be prepared to do things like that as well.”