King Charles signs off state dinner speech with Boston Tea Party joke

WorldPolitics
29 Apr 2026 • 6:16 PM MYT
The Independent
The Independent

The world’s most free-thinking newspaper

King Charles signs off state dinner speech with Boston Tea Party joke

At a state dinner on the second day of the royal visit to the US, King Charles had the room in fits of laughter with a gag steeped in American history.

“Thank you, Mr. President and Mrs. Trump for your splendid dinner this evening, which, um, may I say is a very considerable improvement on the Boston Tea Party,” he said, referencing the 1773 protest which preceded the American Revolution.

His Majesty then went on to toast to the US-UK alliance. “So whether your cup contains tea, wine, Scotch whiskey, bourbon, or even Cola; let us raise our glasses and voices as we toast, the past, the present and the future.”