I was inclined to have a tad more interest in this week’s road trip for Chuck and Cammy given my lineage. As I’m not ashamed to overshare, my grandparents were London Eastenders who despite their decidely blue-collar roots always had four o’clock tea with Cadbury biscuits whenever I visited. And when I discovered the existence of a whole new batch of cousins courtesy of his father’s second family I learned from a more geneologically-curious one that apparently the woman he married that produced their ancestors was a distant relative of the Windsor family. I couldn’t even begin to tell you how many times removed that would make me from actual British royalty. I guess I’m not as obsessed with those sorts of details as were a trove of opportunitisic British journos who rolled out these titillating factoids that REALITY TEA’s Zahrah Patel dropped earlier this week:
According to recent genealogical research, Donald Trump and King Charles III may be related through a shared family line… However, as intriguing as it sounds, the claim is based on historical records that are still open to interpretation. Research conducted on behalf of the Daily Mail claims that both Donald Trump and King Charles may be related through the same Scottish nobleman, the 3rd Earl of Lennox. The study suggests that this shared ancestry could make them very distant cousins, reportedly around 15 generations apart.
The claim stems from detailed genealogical work that traces royal and aristocratic bloodlines through centuries of records. The Earl of Lennox, who lived in the 16th century, was connected to the Scottish royal family through King James II. His lineage is said to have eventually contributed to the House of Windsor, which includes King Charles. On the other side, the research suggests Trump’s connection comes through his mother’s ancestry. His late mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, emigrated from Scotland to the United States in the early 20th century. According to the findings, her family line can allegedly be traced back through generations of Scottish clans, eventually linking to the same noble ancestry.
Which, in turn, produced this reaction which THE INDEPENDENT’s Bryony Gooch and an overly niggly bot bulleted:
- President Donald Trump has said he’s “always wanted to live in Buckingham Palace” in response to a claim that he could be related to King Charles.
- The US president reposted a Daily Mail article on Truth Social titled: “How the Mail traced Trump’s family tree and found out he’s the King’s cousin!”
- He wrote alongside a screen grab of the article, “Wow, that’s nice. I’ve always wanted to live in Buckingham Palace!!! I’ll talk to the King and Queen about this in a few minutes!!!”
I have little doubt that was top-of-mind for our wannabe king and gives me further pause that for as well-intentioned as this spring break may be–ostensibly a celebration in advance of our semiquincentennial–more recent and pressing world events have turned this into little more than yet another distraction with the Royal Couple cast as willful stooges. Not only by our wag-the-dog loving man-child in chief, but by the disdained and bullied Prime Minister who is tossing up a political Hail Mary–or, more accurately, a late-game corner kick, as TIME’s Tiago Ventura wrote last week:
The fallout of the Iran war has splintered U.K.-U.S. relations and fractured the once-prosperous alliance between Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Trump has directed a series of complaints and warnings toward the U.K. on account of Starmer refusing to get actively involved in the conflict. This week, he threatened to impose a “big tariff” on the U.K. if it doesn’t drop its digital services tax on U.S. tech companies.
The threat renewed the unease many British lawmakers have expressed over the timing of Charles’ visit. Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats, on Friday said: “Why is Keir Starmer rewarding this bullying behaviour with a state visit from the King?”
That sort of logic hasn’t kept the American version of Davey’s party from stepping into the spotlight, headlined by yesterday’s antics from one of Chuck and Camilla’s hosts, which of course CBS NEWS’ Yuki Iwamura and Alexa Herrera were delivering live updates on yesterday:
Photographers captured the moment New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani greeted King Charles III. The king and queen had greeted New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill moments before. There’s no word on what, if anything, Mamdani may have said to the royal couple, although prior to the event he said he might mention King Charles return the Koh-i-Noor diamond…Dr. Amanda Foreman, a royal contributor, said because King Charles doesn’t own the Koh-i-Noor diamond he cannot give it away, even if he wanted to. The nation owns the controversial diamond that came from India more than 150 years ago. “The king has no more power to return the diamond than he has to return Buckingham Palace to the people,” Foreman said.
While that pressing matter was being dealt with, that gave Charles and Camilla ample time for plenty of feel-good photo ops, not the least of which being the chance for the one-time Royal Concubine to have the kind of ladies’ day outing that Carrie, Charlotte and Samantha used to. And just like that, Sarah Jessica Parker’s relevant once again.
This after the monarch who waited until his mid-seventies for his mum to croak tried to emulate his “cousin”‘s penchant for good-natured ribbing, as PEOPLE’s Becca Longmire reported:
King Charles poked fun at Donald Trump during his speech at the White House state dinner…Charles told the president and fellow attendees at the glam event, “You recently commented, Mr. President, that if it were not for the United States, European countries would be speaking German.”
I suppose this was necessary after the more sobering remarks that were delivered earlier in the day which Longmire also chronicled:
Charles made history by becoming just the second British monarch in history to address the United States Congress, following in the footsteps of his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth. During his speech, the monarch addressed the White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting that occurred over the weekend, which resulted in a Secret Service officer being shot and Cole Tomas Allen, 31, being charged with attempting to assassinate the president.
The King shared, “We meet, too, in the aftermath of the incident not far from this great building that sought to harm the leadership of your nation and to foment wider fear and discord. Let me say with unshakeable resolve: such acts of violence will never succeed.” “Whatever our differences, whatever disagreements we may have, we stand united in our commitment to uphold democracy, to protect all our people from harm and to salute the courage of those who daily risk their lives in the service of our countries,” he added.
Well, Starmer may not be Winston Churchill, but at least Charles is not George VI. Even his cousins were impressed. Yeah, that includes me, since apparently I’m practically as close to the throne as Fat Orange Jesus actually is.
But I’m also much more jaundiced about all of this pomp and circustance than are the paparazzi and worshippers from both sides of the pond. Little of what Charles says or does carry any actual weight or teeth. Having a 77-year-old bring a soon-to-be 80-year-old an 82-year-old bell from an obscure World War II ship reeks of the same sort of tone-deafness and fealty that the bestowing of the FIFA Peace Prize as a participation trophy projects. Judging by how well World Cup tickets are selling I’d offer that ceremonial act hasn’t aged very well. Were odds being offered on Polymarket I’d probably wager a farthing all of this faux diplomacy on display this week will have a similar shelf life.
But hey, at least I can look forward to the next family gathering to have another crack at something more meaningful. Longtime readers know how special these newfound cousins are to me. (those that aren’t can always click here). Thanks to a recent schedule change, I’ve finally been able to a part of our monthly Zooms once again. I’ll lobby to invite you boys to our next.
Until next time…