May 4, 2026

The King's Comeback - and does Trump wants Prince Harry gone?

Show Notes
Transcript

King Charles and Queen Camilla close out a triumphant American state visit with a stroll down Main Street in small-town Virginia, buying Girl Scout cookies and winning over a nation. Trump lifts tariffs on Scottish whisky and credits the royals personally. Piers Morgan is texting the President. And in the Oval Office, Trump asks whether Harry can make a comeback — before delivering a withering verdict on the Duchess of Sussex. Meanwhile, Harry and Meghan reportedly didn't watch the King's address to Congress. Not live, not later, not at all.

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A calorogus shark media at lo and welcome to Palace Intrigue.

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I'm your host, Mark Francis. King Charles and Queen ca

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Miller brought their four day United States visit to it

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close with a stop in the small town of Front Royal, Virginia,

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where crowds had gathered along Main Street in warm spring sunshine,

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waving British and American flags as the Royal motorcade arrived

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to cheers. The visit marked a shift from the tightly

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controlled engagements of Washington and New York, with the King

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and Queen stepping into a more informal setting, meeting residents,

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greeting a local youth baseball team, first responders and veterans,

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and taking in what one correspondent described as a full

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display of small town American pageantry. Accompanied by Virginia Governor

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Abigail Spanburger and local officials, the couple watched marching bands,

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cheer groups, and a parade of vintage cars passed down

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main Street, pausing to wave to crowds and observed perform

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went as bluegrass music and Appalachian traditions, including clog dancing,

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formed the backdrop to the event. At the block party itself.

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The King and Queen sampled the atmosphere and met community

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groups including Scouts and young farmers, while also viewing local

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produce and agricultural displays. In keeping with American custom, they

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arrived bearing food contributing a coronation keach created to mark

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the King's twenty twenty three coronation, along with a victorious

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sponge cake and honey from Royal hives, some of it

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prepared at the British Embassy in Washington. During the visit,

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Queen Camilla made a brief stop at a stand run

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by the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, youth organizations focused

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on leadership and life skills. The Girl Scouts, dressed in

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their traditional uniforms, were selling cookies to raise funds for

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their activities, and the Queen was seen giving them cash

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in exchange for what appeared to be their well known

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thin mints. The King and Queen appeared quite comfortable royal

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inside at Deep Crown observed there is a quality that

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the best of them have, and it's almost impossible to

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define precisely, which is why people spend so much time trying.

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It is not charm exactly, although charm is part of it.

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It is not warmth, though warmth helps. It is the

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ability to stand on a pavement in a small town

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in front of people who have been waiting two hours

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in the spring sunshine, and make those people feel that

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you are genuinely pleased to be there. Charles has it.

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He has always had it, which is one of the

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great underreported stories of his public life. William has it.

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Catherine has it in abundance. Harry has his own version

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of it, less formal, more instinctive. It is a real thing,

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and it matters enormously. People are sometimes whether this quality

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can be learned, and the honest answer is, up to

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a point. You can learn to hold a conversation. You

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can learn to remember names, you can learn not to

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look at your watch. What you cannot learn, or at

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least what no one in this family has successfully learned

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after the fact, is the ability to make the machinery disappear.

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The machinery has to actually not be there, or it

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has to have been running so long that it has

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become invisible even to the person operating it. Charles has

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been doing this for fifty years. The machinery is invisible.

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That is what Front Royal looked like for the BBC,

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Shawn Coughlin wonders have the Royals got their mojo backed

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from the US visit. Coughlin writes, King Charles must be

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pitching himself at the moment. After months and months of

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terrible headlines, He's suddenly surrounded by applause, and many commentators,

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even critics of the monarchy, seemed delighted at the spectacle.

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It was the underdog winning the cup against all expectations.

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Let's be honest. The multiple scandals about Andrew mount Batten

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Windsor have really put the Royals on the ropes. King

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Charles sometimes has the melancholy look of someone who keeps

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getting disappointing phone calls. Of course, the sudden international popularity

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for the King could be as fickle as a holiday romance.

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Once he's away from the bright lights of the US,

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he'll be back home to the questions about Andrew MP's

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will be digging around his finances, and there will inevitably

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be more front pages about Prince Harry. But it's quite

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possible that at some point in the future when there

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are clips being played of King Charles's most successful moments

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of his reign, will be watching that speech at the

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US Congress and those US lawmakers so unexpectedly cheering him

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to the rafters. Richard Eden had a few interesting notes

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in his column. One suggests that Trump would like William

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and Kate to visit. While it has been assumed William

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wilcome for the world cup, Eden adds, Millennia wants Catherine

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in particular to come, says a US source, She admires

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her greatly and would love her to visit. The first

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Lady's enthusiasm is shared by many of the Americans I

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spoke with in the past few days. While they are

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respectful of the King and Queen, they are more excited

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about William and Catherine. And when it comes to a visit,

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what better timing could there be than July fourth, and

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the biggest Independence Stays celebration in two hundred and fifty years.

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The other items of note, Eden writes, I learned of

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an interesting comment Trump made to a British visitor when

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the conversation turned to Harry, can you take him back,

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poor palasin? Just a moment following the trip to the

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United States, the King arrived in Bermuda, making a low

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key arrival in Hamilton, the island's capital, where he was

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greeted by officials including Governor Andrew Murdock, Premier David Burt,

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along with a guard of honor from the Royal Bermuda Regiment.

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The King also met Bermuda born Michael Frith, a designer

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of many of the Muppets characters, along with his wife,

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Catherine Mullen. The pair briefly showcased their internationally acclaimed puppetry

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work and explained the Bermudian inspiration behind elements of their creations.

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At the Royal Naval Dockyard, the King visited the keep

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yard and joined members of the public to watch a

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performance by the National Gombie Dance Troupe. He ended the

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day with a garden party at Government House, attended by

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a cross section of guests representing Bermudian life. The Queen

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did not make the Bermuda trip, but did turn heads

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when she was spotted casually walking unaccompanied through US airport

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social media. Onlookers were surprised by the sighting, with some

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questioning whether she was traveling home on a commercial flight.

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One commenter praised the lack of fuss and drama in

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her exit, while others admired her unruffled and relaxed demeanor.

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Gossip colonist Rob Shooter suggests Harry and Meghan went out

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of their way not to watch the King's address to Congress.

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Shooter reports they didn't watch it, not live, not later,

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not at all. One insider says, once upon a time

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that would have been unthinkable. Now it makes the point

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for them. There is no relationship right now. One source says,

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no calls, no messages, no outreach, no back channel. It

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has gone completely cold. They are done looking back. One

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insider says they do not need Charles, they do not

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need the Palace, they do not need permission. They've moved on.

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President Trump said he would remove tariffs on Scottish whiskey,

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trumpling to the decision to both the royal visit and

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long standing tires between the Scotch whisky industry and the

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American bourbon sector. Posting on social media, he said, the

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King and Queen got me to do something that nobody

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else was able to do without hardly even asking. In

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honor of the King and Queen of the United Kingdom,

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who have just left the White House, I will be

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removing the tariffs and restrictions on whiskey, having to do

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with Scotland's ability to work with the Commonwealth of Kentucky

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on whiskey and bourbon to very important industries within Scotland

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and Kentucky. People have wanted to do this for a

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long time in that there had been great inter country trade,

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especially having to do with the wooden barrels used. On

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social media, Peers Morgan posted texting with President Trump and

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he's ecstatic about the royal visit. Told me King Charles

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is a great guy and the state dinner was a

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wonderful evening, very special. I think the Monarch and Queen

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Camilla single handedly repaired the special relationship. Congrats, Your Majesty's.

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Royal author Robert Hardman met with the President in the

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Oval Office, where Hardman presented a copy of his biography

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of Queen Elizabeth. During the exchange, Trump is said to

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have praised King Charles, stating he's a great guy. He

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really is. And he also spoke positively about the Prince

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of Wales, saying William He'll be a good king, won't he.

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He's very nice, great guy. I like him. Trump then

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reportedly asked whether Harry could return to royal duties, saying

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so can Harry make a comeback after being told to

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move was unlikely. He reportedly added to many things I

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guess before making a critical remark about the Duchess of Sussex,

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saying that wife of his boy, what she has done

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to that guy? And there you have it. If you

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like to email us and addresses the Palace Intrigue at

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gmail dot com, please follow us on Spotify or the

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app that you're using. Mark Francis My thanks to John McDermott.

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This is Palace Intrigue. Well, good terms

The King's Comeback - and does Trump wants Prince Harry gone?

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