I'm John Batchel with my colleague Gregory Copley, the author of Noble State.

King Charles is entertaining and greeting and shaking hands with Vladimir, Mr. Zelensky,

Zelensky leading the Ukrainian fight against Russia.

Now, why this is important is that heretofore, I've watched King Charles

avoid political partisanship, political side choosing. And I'm going to ask Gregory, is this not tiptoeing

into politics, Gregory, right before the NATO meeting? Well, that was the idea, and then it would happen the day before the NATO meeting, which started today in the Hague.

And Zelensky either pushed his way in or asked Prime Minister Sekeir Stama to invite him or Stama wanted him there.

Because Stama wants to be the champion of something other than domestic disaster, scandals,

corruption and the like, which are plaguing him at home.

He wanted to look like the statesman going into the NATO summit.

He wanted to bring the king into that.

And look, the king is there to work with the government as well to host certain things

in an apolitical fashion, but which has a political message. And that's what he's done again.

I'm not saying that the king is averse to doing this, but it's no question that it's done

in concert with the Stama government.

The King, I think, does feel concerned about the humanitarian decline in the whole region as a result of the Russia-Ukraine war.

I do believe that he is cautious about the Russians, as are most of the British politicians.

Significantly, President Putin in Russia had reached out to the king in the past,

particularly when the king was ascended the throne,

and he extended his greetings to him and to pay great tribute to

Queen Elizabeth. So, I mean, there's no question that the king is seen by foreign powers as

being important as an arbiter in this whole dispute and in many other disputes. So, look,

...