King Charles on Tuesday presented US President Donald Trump with a bell from World War II-era submarine HMS Trump during his state visit. The British monarch, joined by Queen Camilla, is on a four-day visit to the United States to celebrate 250th anniversary of American independence and to repair UK’s fraying relationship with the US.
As he called for the renewal of the UK-US alliance, King Charles delivered a 20-minute speech, which was described by British commentators as more political than expected and more personal speech than his historic address to Congress. He marked the moment with a symbolic naval gift.
All you need to know about the historic bell
The historic bell from British Royal Navy World War II submarine is around 8 decades old. Based on the launch date of HMS Trump (P333) on 25 March 1944, the bell is approximately 82 years old as of April 2026. The work on the submarine started in late 1942 and was complete by 1944. Built by Vickers-Armstrongs, Barrow HMS Trump with pennant number P333 was a British submarine of the third group of the T class. The bell was a part of the final RN submarine which was posted in Australia in January 1969.
King Charles tries to fix estranged relationship
The 77-year-old moved to underline shared history and spoke about continuing with Washington. King Charles in his Washington DC address said that the United States and the United Kingdom were bound by “an indispensable alliance which has long been a cornerstone of prosperity and security for both British and American citizens,” GB News reported.
Calling defence collaboration and intelligence sharing as key pillars of the relationship, King Charles not only highlighted Aukus defence pact with Australia as an example of modern security cooperation but also touched the recent incident in which one Secret Service officer was injured. He commended the response of US security services and praised Trump’s “courage and steadfastness”.
During his toast at a White House state dinner, King Charles said that the American character had long been defined by “courage, tenacity and the spirit of adventure” as he noted that the two nations had “traded, innovated and created together” across generations and “stood together in the best of times and worst of times”.
Suggesting that both countries now faced challenges that demanded renewed cooperation in an uncertain global climate, he added, “Those challenges encourage us to reaffirm, tonight, the basis on which our partnership has been built”
The guest list included Golfing ace Rory McIlroy, Amazon boss Jeff Bezos and Apple chief Tim Cook. The couple received a warm greeting from the president and first lady Melania Trump upon their arrival at the White House on 28 April.
Highlighting the shared history between the two countries, Trump in his welcome remarks said, “American patriots today can sing, ’My country, ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty,’ only because our colonial ancestors first sang, ‘God save the king,'” AP reported.
