Only in America: A British king helping America celebrate its liberation from a British king
April 27, 2026
Today, King Charles arrived in Washington for a three-day state visit.
“King Charles III and his wife, Queen Camilla, arrived in the U.S. to celebrate the 250th anniversary of America’s independence from Great Britain,” reported a Seattle TV station.
A British king helping America celebrate its liberation from a British king.
Only in America.
But the visit may also offer a welcome respite for Donald Trump from the Iran war quagmire.
Pomp and ceremony over blood and guts. Glitz and glamor over gas prices.
Who thought of that first?
The Romans.
Panem et circenses — bread and games — the ancient art of distracting the restless masses while the empire frays at the edges.
Or, as an apocryphal Roman legend has it, Emperor Nero “fiddled while Rome burned.” He is said to have played his lyre, delighted by the spectacle.
Empires don’t fall all at once. They entertain themselves on the way down.
And what they leave behind are monuments to decisions that once seemed monumental.
“Because of the Queen?”
QE II Meets Reagan — San Francisco, March 1983
Which brings back memories of my first encounter with the British royals.
In March 1983, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip arrived in California aboard the royal yacht Britannia. Their visit made headlines nationwide — not least because a late winter storm brought floods and landslides to northern California.
Instead of sailing triumphantly under the Golden Gate Bridge, the Queen was forced to fly from Santa Barbara on Air Force One with the Reagans — leaving the British sailors to ride out the storm at sea.
I happened to be in San Francisco at the time, on a business trip, staying at the St. Francis Hotel.
On the morning of March 4, as I stepped out toward nearby Trade Vic’s, I ran into a police cordon.
“Is this because of the Queen?” I asked.
The officer smiled — the kind of smile that knows something you don’t.
“No,” he said. “This is because of the King.”
As it turned out, the Queen and Prince Philip were hosting a thank-you dinner for the Reagans and several dozen other guests at Trader Vic’s.
And just like that, the empires — past and present — had changed places at the table.
Truth in Media 
Leave a comment