The King’s diplomacy masterclass in the US has boosted the monarchy but highlighted the shortage of family members undertaking similar blockbuster tours supporting British foreign policy.
It has prompted calls for the Prince and Princes of Wales in particular to start travelling more to make the most of their own soft power on the world stage.
In Washington, New York, and Virginia over a four-day state visit, Charles III and Queen Camilla pulled off the defining moment of their reign so far, demonstrating the real value of the world’s best known Royal Family, according to some politicians, commentators and their host, US President Donald Trump.
“Great King. The greatest King in my book,” Trump told the press gathered to see their departure from the White House. “We need more people like that in our country,” he added, hours before scrapping tariffs on Scottish whisky in their honour, something that British politicians had been working in vain to achieve for a year.
It was a practical example of how the Royal Family’s soft power can be flexed to support British governments, although how far Trump will change his hostile approach to the UK in the longer term remains to be seen.
“Charles put his personal stamp on soft power and distinguished it from the late Queen,” the royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams said, hailing the tour as a triumph. “He gave the various sides of a deeply divided America what they wanted.”
The King has lifted spirits inside the Royal Household after a difficult spell of scrutiny over the family rift with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s involvement in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, the fallout from which is likely to last for years.
“I’m a fan, obviously, but I think they’ve done amazingly well,” one courtier who has known them for years said, praising the King and his speechwriters for their ability to deliver difficult messages to Donald Trump and his allies while charming them. “You don’t see the First Lady, Melania, smile very often but the Queen had her giggling.”
But the apparent success of the US trip, coupled with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s high-profile quasi-royal visit to Australia last month, and Harry’s speech in Ukraine in which he challenged the US to uphold its historic security guarantees, has also highlighted the shortage of other royals with sufficient clout and star power to go on these missions.
“It’s just the King supported by the Queen, and William and Kate,” said Fitzwilliams. “They are the real stars.”
The heir to the throne and his wife, who celebrated their fifteenth wedding anniversary on Wednesday, have not been on a major overseas tour together since their ill-fated trip to the Caribbean in 2022 to mark the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, when they faced protests and critics accused them of looking like out-of-touch relics of a bygone imperial age.
The couple have made other contributions – including charming the US president when he came to Windsor on his second state visit last year, and through William’s Earthshot Prize encouraging innovations to help avoid an environmental catastrophe. However, they have faced a difficult few years.
In 2024, Kate, 44, underwent a serious abdominal operation and then cancer treatment, an experience she described as “scary” and “incredibly tough”.
‘A diferent way of working’
They remain Britain’s most popular royals but William, 43, has struggled at times to shed criticism that he is workshy, despite explaining that the couple want to work in a different way, focusing on a campaigning style of engagements designed to have “impact” and bring change rather than the more traditional type of ribbon-cutting duties.
In that vein, William has issued clarion calls on climate change and other environmental crises. In February, he made a three-day trip to Saudi Arabia on a Foreign Office mission to forge closer ties with the country’s de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
William was also the first British royal to meet Trump after his election win in December 2024, when the two men spent 40 minutes speaking at the British ambassador’s residence in Paris after the reopening of Notre-Dame cathedral.
However William – who went on five foreign trips last year, three the year before, and five in 2023 – has travelled nowhere near as much as his father did at a similar age. When Charles was in his early to mid-40s he visited up to 16 countries per year.
Last year, the Prince of Wales’s foreign duties accounted for just 7.2 per cent of the family’s engagements abroad. It was similar in 2024 at 7.3 per cent. Before Kate’s illness, the couple accounted for 9.2 per cent of the total in 2023, and 18.7 per cent in 2022 when they completed 97 overseas royal duties including their Caribbean tour.
Some royal watchers argue that in future they will have to step up at home and abroad, especially as they are the only working royals under 60.
According to Patricia Treble, whose Write Royalty website measures royal workload by compiling a tally of official engagements each day, William undertook only 36 of 499 foreign engagements by members of the Royal Family last year. Treble’s figures are calculated using publicly available information from the Court Circular, the official record of the Royal Family’s activities.
“That we don’t know whether he wants to increase that share in years to come, or when his wife will again return to foreign travel, must be of concern for not only the realms that require regular visits to keep their close bonds with their head of state and his heir,” Treble added. “But it also must provoke unease among diplomats who cannot be sure that they will be able to call on the soft power of royalty to help with their efforts.”
Joe Little, managing editor of Majesty Magazine, believes Harry and Meghan’s trips have shown what the monarchy has been missing, adding to the pressure on William and Kate to travel more to the Commonwealth and on other big overseas tours.
“The couple are not as visible as they need to be and they are certainly less visible than the previous Prince and Princess of Wales in their early days when they were firing on all cylinders,” he said. “They handle royal duties in a very different way.”
Little said they would have to step up if they suddenly became King and Queen earlier than anticipated. “There would be all sorts of pressures on them, not just in the UK but in the realms and the Commonwealth beyond,” he said.
“But is it possible Charles doesn’t want William to eclipse some of the things he is doing?”
Kate has ‘no regrets’ over focus on family
Kate is expected to resume foreign travel in the coming months. There has been speculation she might join William on a trip to the US in the summer to attend World Cup matches in his role as patron of the Football Association. But a more likely date is November when William’s environmental innovation award scheme, the Earthshot Prize, holds its annual ceremony and week of activities in Mumbai, India. Palace sources say no internal decision has been made yet.
The Princess’ resolve to put her children first before royal duties while they are at school, has been strengthened by what they went through as a family during her “life-changing” illness and treatment.
Aides say big overseas tours can be gruelling: the numerous back-to-back engagements where the royals are the focus of every person and countless cameras, the endless planning meetings, the protocol, the detailed briefs from the Foreign Office and the notes from palace officials choreographing their every move.
She and William have no regrets about focusing on family and quality, not quantity, of official engagements. “That will continue,” a royal source said.
It means William does less than Charles did at a similar age. But Charles, who was left for months on end as a child while his parents travelled abroad on duty, has always been a workaholic. His sons are determined not to repeat the patterns that led to his marriage break-up with Princess Diana and the fallout that wreaked havoc on their lives.
A more ‘stable monarchy’ in future
The couple, who take every school holiday off with their three children, George, Charlotte, and Louis, are firmly settled in their new eight-bedroom Georgian Grade II listed home, Forest Lodge, in Windsor Great Park, which is expected to remain their main residence even when William becomes King. It will be handy for Eton, the favourite to be Prince George’s new school in September, although the family are keeping their choice under wraps for now – other possible destinations are reported to be Marlborough or Wellington, a 20-minute drive from their home.
“My gut feeling is that it will be Eton for George and Wellington or possibly Marlborough for Charlotte, and one of those for Louis,” said Melanie Sanderson, managing editor of The Good Schools Guide, who has been taking regular soundings.
In their defence, courtiers say that the couple’s approach to their work-life balance will create a more stable Royal Family and monarchy in the future . “Whatever Charles was doing 30 years ago, time’s moved on,” one said. “Things will have to change when William becomes King.”
But, as the institution grapples with the fallout from the Epstein scandal and looks to build on the success of the King and Queen’s US trip, the Prince and Princess of Wales may face pressure to step it up.
“They can’t rely on their popularity forever,” said Little.
Kensington Palace declined to comment.