King Charles to address US congress
Newshour
BBC
4.2 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 28 April 2026
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On his US state visit, King Charles III will address both houses of congress later. He will be the first British monarch to do so since Queen Elizabeth did the same in 1991. We hear from a congressman about whether the visit could help warm UK-US relations amid tension due to the Iran war.
Also on the programme: The latest on Mali as violence there continues to spread between jihadist militants and separatists; the United Arab Emirates is set to quit the oil cartel Opec on 1st May; and we hear from the parents of Kenyan runner Sabastian Sawe - who broke the world record at this weekend’s London Marathon.
(Photo: Britain's King Charles III walks during a state visit to the United States at a Garden Party in the British Embassy in DC, 27th April 2026. Credit: Ian Vogler, Pool via Reuters)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:09.6 | Hello and welcome to News Hour. It's coming to you live from the BBC World Service Studios in central London. |
| 0:15.2 | I'm Tim Franks. One of the big set-piece moments in Washington's current calendar has just taken place. It took place |
| 0:22.5 | within the last hour, a speech to both houses of Congress by King Charles. A key moment, |
| 0:28.6 | well, a lot of people have been saying it's a potentially key moment anyway at a rather |
| 0:32.1 | fraught time in the relationship between the UK and the US. We'll have much more on that in just a moment. |
| 0:38.4 | Also, though, in 30 minutes, I want to let you know that we're going to be bringing you news |
| 0:42.4 | of another relationship that has fractured in a way that could be rather significant in the long term, |
| 0:48.3 | at least when it comes to energy prices. And that's the announcement by the United Arab Emirates |
| 0:52.8 | that it is going to leave OPEC, the oil cartel, |
| 0:56.9 | after long complaining that it didn't want to be so constrained by production quotas. |
| 1:01.1 | We're going to begin, though, in Washington with that state visit for the King. |
| 1:05.5 | It's been a busy second day. |
| 1:13.6 | A trumpet vol to greet him at the White House, where he was then bathed in praise by the |
| 1:20.7 | President Donald Trump. |
| 1:23.0 | And then this afternoon, Washington time. |
| 1:25.7 | It was time for the king to travel the short distance to Capitol Hill and to deliver a speech to both houses of Congress. |
| 1:33.3 | It's an event which has only taken place once before, at least from a British monarch, when his mother, Queen Elizabeth, addressed Congress in 1991. |
| 1:42.9 | King Charles highlighted the fact that the relationship between the US and Britain, though of course dates back much, much further. |
| 1:51.7 | Whatever our differences, whatever disagreements we may have, we stand united in our commitment to uphold democracy, to protect all our people from harm, |
| 2:05.4 | and to salute the courage of those who daily risk their lives in the service of our countries. |
| 2:14.1 | Standing here today, it is hard not to feel the weight of history on my shoulder, |
... |
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