King Charles Jokes Americans ‘Would Be Speaking French’ | EUROtoday

King Charles III could not resist a joke about America’s colonial previous whereas eating with President Donald Trump and first woman Melania Trump this week.

Charles and Queen Camilla visited the White House on Tuesday for a state dinner, the place they loved a French-influenced menu consisting of a backyard vegetable velouté and Dover sole meunière, amongst different dishes.

The king seemed to be in a jovial temper all through the night, even providing a tongue-in-cheek retort at one in every of Trump’s headline-making feedback earlier than an viewers that included Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and outgoing Apple CEO Tim Cook.

“You recently commented, Mr. President, that if it were not for the United States, European countries would be speaking German,” he proclaimed. “Dare I say that, if it wasn’t for us, you’d be speaking French!”

Charles’ quip was a nod to Britain’s function in defeating France in the course of the Seven Years’ War, which lasted from 1756 to 1763. It additionally got here in response to a remark Trump’s made to European leaders earlier this yr about World War II.

Appearing on the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland in January, Trump insisted that with out the US’s intervention within the battle, “You’d be speaking German and a little Japanese.”

Elsewhere in his speech, Charles additionally cracked a joke about Trump’s determination to demolish the White House’s East Wing to make means for a $400 million ballroom.

Those controversial plans have divided legislators as soon as once more within the wake of final Saturday’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, the place a shooter opened hearth with the alleged intention of assassinating the president.

Despite Charles’ gentle digs at Trump, he notably steered away from a extra contentious topic associated to the president throughout his go to.

In an interview with HuffPost, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) mentioned he “fully expected” Charles to acknowledge the survivors of late financier Jeffrey Epstein’s intercourse trafficking ring throughout his speech to Congress on Tuesday. Ultimately, the king ― whose personal brother, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, is tied up within the Epstein scandal ― mentioned nothing.

Charles and Camilla departed Washington, DC for New York early Wednesday, the place they met briefly with Mayor Zohran Mamdani and laid flowers on the fringe of town’s memorial to the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist assaults, 67 of whom had been British.