King Charles III 'viscerally despises' Donald Trump privately, royal author Tina Brown has claimed ahead of the four-day US state visit next week. The former Vanity Fair editor said a royal adviser had also told her that the monarch was 'especially pained' by the President's attacks on Pope Leo XIV. Charles and Camilla's trip comes amid a worsening UK-US relationship after verbal attacks by Mr Trump on the British military, its Nato allies and Sir Keir Starmer. The King's first visit to the US as monarch is intended to mark the 250th anniversary of American independence and herald the start of celebrations across the US.

And Ms Brown wrote on her 'Fresh Hell' Substack : 'There will be no whiff next week of how "viscerally", I am told, King Charles privately despises his presidential host.' Ahead of the trip from April 27 to 30, Ms Brown added: 'The King, a royal adviser told me, will be especially pained by Trump's attacks on Pope Leo. 'In his decades as Prince of Wales, interfaith understanding was always high on his priority list, to the point that he wanted, as monarch, to be called defender of faith, not the faith.' Mr Trump had accused the Pope of being 'weak on crime, weak on nuclear weapons' and said he should 'stop catering to the radical Left' and 'focus on being a great Pope, not a politician', after the pontiff criticised the US-Israeli war on Iran. The Pope later said he would continue to 'stand up and say ‌there's a better way' and he is 'not afraid' of Mr Trump but did not intend to 'get into a debate' with him.

Ms Brown also claimed that the King intervened in January when Mr Trump caused fury by claiming that Nato troops stayed 'a little off the front lines' in Afghanistan. It was already known that Sir Keir raised the comments directly with Mr Trump in a conversation, and the President then wrote on Truth Social that UK soldiers who fought in the country were 'among the greatest of all warriors'. But Ms Brown wrote: 'In nearly a decade of Trump doubling down on insults, btw, a private correction and rebuke from King Charles, discreetly transmitted by the palace in January, was a rare time when Trump cleaned up the spittle, Truth Socialing (sic) the next day about "the great and very brave soldiers of the United Kingdom".' Some 457 British troops were killed in Afghanistan and the King's son Prince Harry served there on two operational tours in 2007/08 and 2012/13.

Speaking about the state visit, Ms Brown also said: 'The King and Queen know they can ace this visit. Whatever the tensions, the palace also sees it as a pleasing opportunity both to blur the frayed transatlantic reality and to big up the monarch at home.' The Daily Mail has contacted Buckingham Palace for comment on Ms Brown's claims. Relations between the Prime Minister and Mr Trump have been fractious, with the President branding the UK's approach to the Iran war 'terrible' and repeatedly lashing out at Sir Keir – at one point describing him as 'not Winston Churchill'. But Mr Trump told Sky News last week that the state visit will not be overshadowed by his strained relationship with Sir Keir.

The royal couple will begin their trip with a private tea hosted by the President and First Lady, and will also commemorate the 25th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks that brought down New York's Twin Towers. Highlights of the trip will also include Charles acknowledging the challenges the UK and US face in only the second address to both houses of Congress by a British monarch, after Queen Elizabeth II delivered the first in September 1991. Charles and Mr Trump will sit down for a bilateral meeting and Camilla and Melania Trump will carry out an engagement together, with the President hosting a state dinner in their honour.

The royal couple will also travel to Virginia to meet residents and community organisations and watch performances by Appalachian cultural groups and attend a celebratory 'block party'. Meanwhile there have been repeated calls by the family of Jeffrey Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre for a meeting with the King and Queen, and The Mail on Sunday reported that the Queen had been approached by victims' rights groups. But the legal implications of Charles and Camilla coming into contact with any survivors of the financier, and the King's constitutional position, make a meeting impossible while there are ongoing UK police investigations into matters related to Epstein.

The Royal Family has been dealing with the issue of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor for years, disgraced by his association with Epstein and recently arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office, over his connection with the sexual offender, and released under investigation. Andrew, stripped of his titles by his brother the King, has long faced separate accusations of having intercourse with Ms Giuffre three times, including when she was 17, and also during an orgy after being trafficked by the financier. The former prince has denied the allegations. At the end of the state visit, Charles will travel solo to Bermuda for a three-day royal visit – his first as King to a British Overseas Territory.