{"text":[[{"start":6.4,"text":"British royal visits to the US have served as moments of bonding not just between heads of state but between their countries: think of King George VI eating hot dogs in 1939 with President Franklin D Roosevelt, or Queen Elizabeth II dancing with President Gerald Ford. King Charles III’s visit this week, officially to mark the 250th anniversary of US independence, is more about renewing ties with America and Americans than with President Donald Trump. But the backdrop makes this one of the trickiest visits a UK monarch has faced."}],[{"start":40.6,"text":"UK-US relations are at their lowest ebb since the 1956 Suez crisis. Sir Keir Starmer’s refusal to back the US-Israeli war with Iran has led Trump to denigrate the UK military and belittle the prime minister. A Pentagon memo reportedly floated reviewing the US position on Britain’s claim to the Falkland Islands in retaliation. Tensions were already simmering after Starmer joined in condemnations of the president’s ambitions towards Greenland. "}],[{"start":66.5,"text":"For Buckingham Palace, there were other disincentives. Trump has indicated designs, too, on Canada — of which Charles III also happens to be king. The monarch’s brother Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is being investigated for his links to Jeffrey Epstein. And this weekend’s assassination attempt on Trump raised questions over safety."}],[{"start":87.35,"text":"Despite the potential pitfalls, the King is right to have gone ahead with the visit. Even postponing it could have been taken as disrespectful by Americans. Pressing ahead with a royal trip including an address to both houses of Congress and a White House banquet sends a message: whatever the quarrels over Iran, the relationship endures."}],[{"start":107.3,"text":"Even assuming a Trump tantrum can be avoided, it may be beyond the crown’s diplomatic powers to do much to repair day-to-day relations between Britain’s premier and a fickle president. But the King has in the past found subtle ways of harnessing Trump’s fascination with the monarchy to signal disagreement with and perhaps even sway the president, notably on Ukraine. "}],[{"start":129.3,"text":"The monarch broke into his Sunday schedule at Sandringham to meet Volodymyr Zelenskyy 48 hours after the Ukrainian president’s White House humiliation last February. When he hosted Trump at Windsor Castle in September, the King’s pointed warning of “tyranny” in Europe and call to stand together with Ukraine to “secure peace” were credited by Zelenskyy for a subsequent shift in tone from Trump."}],[{"start":153.95000000000002,"text":"Yet whatever the outcome of the trip, this is a moment for the UK to start to recalibrate ties. Military, intelligence and security co-operation remains deep. But the rise of China and other Asian economies means any US president — even if in less destructive fashion — would be looking beyond the UK and Europe, and pushing the continent to take more responsibility for its defence. For all its shared history and culture with the US, Britain’s place in the world is not what it was in the heyday of the “special” relationship."}],[{"start":183.50000000000003,"text":"All that increases the urgency for the government to find ways to spend more on defence — to convince the US of its seriousness and enable it to stand better on its own feet. It should channel Canada’s Mark Carney to forge closer links with like-minded partners, especially in Europe and the Anglosphere, to preserve as much as possible of the “rules-based” system. "}],[{"start":204.80000000000004,"text":"In doing so, it should exploit to the full its soft power resources — including the monarchy and the Commonwealth, the (badly underfunded) BBC World Service, and its higher education sector, and creative and sports industries. Britain rightly wants to preserve all it can of the special relationship. But in the harsh new world of the 21st century, other connections are going to matter a lot too."}],[{"start":234.80000000000004,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1777350822_1790.mp3"}