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King Charles III will reflect on “the increasing pressures of conflict” across the world in a “time of great challenge” during a speech planned for Monday, according to multiple reports.
“We join together on this Commonwealth Day at a time of great challenge and great possibility,” a preview of the 77-year-old’s Commonwealth Day speech says.
The king’s speech continued: “Across our world, communities and nations face the increasing pressures of conflict, climate change and rapid transformation. Yet it is often in such testing moments that the enduring spirit of the Commonwealth is most clearly revealed.”
The speech will come a little more than a week after the U.S. and Israel launched coordinated strikes against Iran, which British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the United Kingdom didn’t take part in for the sake of their national interest.
“This is not Winston Churchill we are dealing with,” President Donald Trump said earlier this week in a criticism of Starmer amid a perceived lack of support for the U.S. and Israel’s joint military operation against Iran.
King Charles III making his Commonwealth Day speech in 2023. (Hannah McKay – WPA Pool/Getty Images)
“By the way, I’m not happy with the U.K. either,” the president said, referring to Starmer blocking the United States’ use of U.K. bases to launch attacks on Iran.
Britain has since allowed the U.S. to use its bases in the region for defensive purposes against Iran’s retaliatory strikes. It has also mobilized fighter jets and plans to send a destroyer and possibly an aircraft carrier.
The president referenced the Chagos Islands Tuesday, which are British territories in the Indian Ocean, saying it has taken “three, four days for us to work out where we can land there.”
“It would have been much more convenient landing there as opposed to flying many extra hours, so we are very surprised,” he said.
Later, the president said the United Kingdom has been “very, very uncooperative with that stupid island.”
“It’s a shame,” Trump said. “That country, the U.K., and I love that country, I love it.”
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President Trump has criticized British Prime Minister Keir Starmer over the U.K.’s cooperation with the U.S. on its military action in Iran. (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
“This is not the age of Churchill,” he added.
Trump slammed Starmer again on Saturday, accusing the prime minister of joining the war after the U.S. had “already won.”
“The United Kingdom, our once Great Ally, maybe the Greatest of them all, is finally giving serious thought to sending two aircraft carriers to the Middle East,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “That’s OK, Prime Minister Starmer, we don’t need them any longer – But we will remember. We don’t need people that join Wars after we’ve already won!”
Starmer has defended his decision to stay out of the conflict, saying the U.K. was “not involved in the initial strikes against Iran, and we will not join offensive action now.”
“But in the face of Iran’s barrage of missiles and drones, we will protect our people in the region,” Starmer said in an address Monday to Parliament. “President Trump has expressed his disagreement with our decision not to get involved in the initial strikes, but it is my duty to judge what is in Britain’s national interest. That is what I’ve done, and I stand by it.”
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King Charles III will reflect on “the increasing pressures of conflict” across the world in a “time of great challenge” during a speech planned for Monday. (Andrew Matthews / Pool / AFP via Getty Images)
The king and other senior royals will gather at Westminster Abbey on Monday for the annual Commonwealth Day celebration, which recognizes the 56 countries voluntarily connected to the U.K., many of which were once part of the British Empire.
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The preview of the speech continues: “Working together, we can ensure that the Commonwealth continues to stand as a force for good — grounded in community, committed to the kind of restorative sustainability that has a return on investment, enriched by culture, steadfast in its care for our planet, and united in friendship and in the service of its people.”
Charles’ speech at the abbey will also be the largest gathering of the royal family since former Prince Andrew was arrested on Feb. 19.
Fox News’ Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
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