King Charles and Queen Camilla will proceed with U.S. state visit after shooting scares Washington event

Buckingham Palace said King Charles III and Queen Camilla will proceed with their four-day state visit to the United States despite a shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner that jolted Washington’s security posture and triggered urgent talks on both sides of the Atlantic.

The visit is scheduled for Monday, April 27, through Thursday, April 30, 2026, and it will be King Charles III’s first official U.S. state visit as monarch. The White House said President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump will welcome the royal couple in Washington, D.C., where the trip is being billed as the first official state visit of Trump’s second term.

Buckingham Palace said the King was being kept fully informed and was relieved that Trump, Melania Trump and all guests were unharmed after the shooting on Saturday, April 25. The palace also said discussions were taking place about how the attack might affect operational planning, but the visit would still go ahead as scheduled. The episode instantly changed the backdrop for a trip that was meant to project continuity and diplomatic confidence rather than crisis management.

The state visit was originally announced as part of the commemoration of the 250th anniversary of American independence. The Royal Family said the program would celebrate the historic connections and modern bilateral relationship between the United Kingdom and the United States, underscoring how carefully the trip is being staged as a political and symbolic event as well as a ceremonial one.

The itinerary takes Charles and Camilla to Washington, New York and Virginia, with the king continuing on to Bermuda afterward for what will be his first Royal Visit there as monarch. The visit is also the first state visit by a British monarch to the United States since Queen Elizabeth II’s trip in May 2007, a gap that makes the security climate around the trip especially sensitive.

For Washington, the shooting has shifted attention from protocol to protection. What was set to be a showcase of transatlantic pageantry now carries a sharper risk calculus, with U.S. authorities expected to reassure foreign dignitaries while preserving the message that the visit will proceed without interruption.