The Daily Mail has always shown a willingness to turn sensitive geopolitical situations into opportunities to get as childish as possible. I’m used to this when it comes to the Windsors and the Sussexes especially – any situation vaguely involving the Sussexes “getting political” will leave the Mail utterly scandalized and wailing. But it’s so odd to see the Mail bring that exact same energy to Donald Trump’s dealings with King Charles, and the powder-keg situation with Ukraine. I’m obviously not in the business of praising Charles, but I thought his moves in recent weeks were extremely well-done – he met with President Zelenskyy at Sandringham (his private home), they did a warm photo-op by the fire, and they reportedly spoke for hours. Charles also got significant face-time with Justin Trudeau that same weekend. These were pointed photo-ops designed to show the monarchy’s support for Canada and Ukraine in the face of Donald Trump’s aggressions towards both countries. But the Mail has used Charles’s soft diplomacy as an excuse to run around Washington, gossiping to and about the MAGA cult.

Donald Trump has ‘gone cool’ on Britain since King Charles welcomed Volodymyr Zelensky to Sandringham, diplomatic sources in Washington have claimed. Allies of the US President have made clear to UK officials in America that pictures of the King with the Ukranian leader made him feel ‘less special’ about the monarch’s invitation for a state visit to Britain.

In response, the Trump allies were told that it would have been inappropriate for the Government to ‘direct’ the King not to meet Mr Zelensky. The King met Mr Zelensky last Sunday, just days after Sir Keir Starmer had presented Mr Trump with an invitation from Charles to fly to London for an official visit. The overt show of solidarity came in the immediate aftermath of the row in the Oval Office between Mr Zelensky and Mr Trump, in which the US President ganged up with Vice-President JD Vance to berate him for his supposed lack of respect and gratitude for American help.

Then, on Monday, Charles also welcomed Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau to Sandringham – at a time when Mr Trudeau is reeling from Mr Trump’s announcement of 25 per cent tariffs on imports from his country.

Last night, No 10 said that it ‘did not recognise’ the claims that Mr Trump was sulking over the meetings, but a well-placed source said: ‘Things definitely went a bit cool in Washington after Sandringham. We told them that the King makes his own decisions about who he meets’.

Mr Zelensky flew to Charles’ Norfolk home in a military helicopter after attending a defence summit with European leaders hosted by the Prime Minister.

Whitehall sources were at pains to stress that the royal meeting was not a reaction to the Oval Office bust-up, insisting that it had been in the works for a while.

The pair had met previously during Mr Zelensky’s visit to the UK in February 2023, when the King told him ‘we’ve all been worried about you and thinking about your country for so long’.

No 10 sources denied that Sandringham had caused tensions, saying that the Prime Minister had spoken to Mr Trump on Monday – the US President likes to call him directly on his mobile – and there had been ‘positive engagement’ between the two leaders.

[From The Daily Mail]

Several things are happening all at once: the British press is trying to drive a wedge between the Trump White House and Downing Street, not to mention the Trump WH and Buckingham Palace. They’re trying to blow up the successful moves of the Starmer government, especially regarding Ukraine and the UK’s role within Europe’s involvement in Ukraine. The Mail is trying to tell Trump that he SHOULD be mad about Charles meeting with Zelenskyy, that the meeting was an insult to Trump. It’s wild to see them pull this kind of thing over a sensitive geopolitical situation. Oh, and it looks like Starmer has plausible deniability on Charles’s meeting with Zelenskyy too – “We told them that the King makes his own decisions about who he meets.” BS – Charles wouldn’t have met with Zelenskyy and staged it like that without Starmer’s explicit approval.

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