Singer Rod Stewart told King Charles that he did an “absolutely superb” job during his U.S. state visit because he put “that ratbag in his place” in an apparent reference to President Donald Trump.
Charles visited Washington, D.C, at the end of April when he gave a speech to Congress challenging Trump on subjects ranging from support for Ukraine to NATO and the war in Iran. The king risked the monarchy’s highly prized neutrality in the process but kept to the foreign policy goals of the British Foreign Office.
Stewart met Charles at a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the King’s Trust at the Royal Albert Hall on Monday night and told the monarch: “May I say, well done in the Americas. You were superb, absolutely superb; put that little ratbag in his place.”
Charles did not walk away but instead replied with words that were not picked up by microphones in the room. Stewart then replied: “No exactly… it went right over his head.”
Why It Matters
Trump reacted well to the speech, praising Charles for uniting a divided Congress, and himself risked jeopardizing royal impartiality by saying Charles “would have probably helped us with Iran.” The reference was a swipe at British Prime Minister Keir Starmer for not joining America and Israel’s war with Iran.
Stewart’s latest remark and the fact the king continued to speak to him after it created renewed risk of a negative reaction from Trump and show that the legacy of the visit will likely be long-lasting.
King Charles and Queen Camilla’s Celebrate 50 Years of The King’s Trust
Amal Clooney also praised King Charles for the U.S. State Visit at the event, saying “we’re so proud to have you as our king,” during a speech at his charity awards in London.
The human rights lawyer, who was joined at London’s Royal Albert Hall by husband George Clooney, was presenting an award when she took time out to reference the king’s State Visit on Monday night. The king and Queen Camilla were present in the audience at the time.
She said: “I’m grateful to the king for all the incredible work the trust is doing for young people around the world. I’m grateful too for his efforts to build bridges at a really challenging time in the world. And Your Majesty, having just watched your recent trip abroad, I think I can speak for everyone here tonight when I say we’re so proud to have you as our king.”
Clooney’s comment on the state visit got a rousing applause around the Royal Albert Hall, a large music and entertainment venue in central London, and came as she was presenting the Amal Clooney Women’s Empowerment award to 23-year-old Naina.
Like many girls in her rural community in India, Naina dropped out of school early but was persuaded to re-enroll by Project Lehar, a scheme run by the Aga Khan Foundation for the King’s Trust International.
Naina went on to persuade other girls in her village to stay in school too and now works for Project Lehar on girls’ education.
Clooney said: “Having faced so many barriers to her own education, she refused to give in. Naina studied, she stayed up studying all night. When there was no electricity, she made her own oil from household waste, lit a small flame and stayed up reading until dawn.
“She reached out to the King’s Trust Project Lehar and it helped her get into school. Then her dream was to open doors for other girls too. As she put it to me when we first spoke, ‘I want them to know that they don’t need to be limited by someone else’s idea of what it means to be a girl.’
“At just 23, Naina is now one of the most powerful advocates for girls in her community and works for the same King’s Trust program that once helped her find her way. She is living her dream to help others and tonight in her village there is not a single uneducated girl.”
On the red carpet, during their arrival, George Clooney joked that Amal’s recent surprise birthday party for him was a little more exciting than he could cope with: “She had friends of mine show up. It’s a dangerous thing to surprise someone when they turn 65 because they could drop.”
Stewart and Clooney were not the only people to reference the state visit. British Comedian Tom Davis said during his stand up routine: “Even in the last few weeks the trust works to continue to help people suceed in life even when they don’t seem to have the necessary skills and qualifications for their chosen career. So thank you, Sir, for your efforts with President Trump.”
The joke again got a lengthy applause among the Royal Albert Hall crowd.
King Charles’ Speech at the King’s Trust Awards
Charles gave his own speech in which he said: “I find it hard to believe that 50 years have gone by since we managed to start this trust in 1976 and all I can say is that it wasn’t easy in those days, quite a lot of people thought it was a bad idea.
“Anyway, we managed it and what I really wanted to do more than anything else was to invest in the potential and the talents of so many young people who just for the lack of self-esteem and self-confidence found it very difficult to know what to do.”
“We now have a huge army,” he continued, “and 1.5 million here, and increasingly around the world, demonstrating what a difference they can make to their communities and indeed to the world generally.”
What is The King’s Trust?
The King’s Trust, formerly known as The Prince’s Trust, is one of the United Kingdom’s best-known youth charities, founded in 1976 when Charles was still Prince of Wales. It was established at a time of high youth unemployment, with the aim of supporting disadvantaged young people and helping them access opportunities through education, training, and work.
The charity began modestly, using the Prince’s Navy severance pay to fund small pilot projects and grants for young people struggling to find employment. From these early initiatives, it developed a broader mission to help young people get business ideas off the ground or get the training and skills needed to find work.
Around 10 years ago, Charles launched the King’s Trust International to help young people around the world as well as individual country missions, including with The King’s Trust USA in America.
Some of those helped by the trust went on to great heights, including actor Idris Elba, famous for playing Stringer Bell in The Wire, who in his early life got a £1,500 grant from the trust to attend the National Youth Music Theatre—one of the UK’s leading training grounds for young performers.
“I’m here to celebrate the incredible work and be a part of the King’s Trust,” singer Rita Ora told Newsweek on the red carpet. “I think this charity has proven itself obviously over the years.
“Seeing a great, dear friend of mine, Idris Elba, who is a part of this charity and seeing what that does for somebody like Idris and more, I feel they’ve always been very supportive of talent regardless of their story and really helping dreams come true.”
