King Charles III extolled the bonds between Britain and the USA in a speech to Congress on Tuesday.
Right here is the complete textual content:
“Mr. Vice President, Mr. Speaker, members of Congress, representatives of the American individuals throughout all states, territories, cities and communities.
“I wish to take this chance to specific my specific gratitude to you all for the good honor of addressing this joint assembly of Congress and, on behalf of the queen and myself, to thank the American individuals for welcoming us to the USA to mark this semi-quincentennial 12 months of the Declaration of Independence.
“And for all of that point, our destinies as nations have been interlinked. As Oscar Wilde stated, ‘We’ve got actually every thing in frequent with America these days besides, after all, language.’
“Women and gents, we meet in occasions of nice uncertainty; in occasions of battle from Europe to the Center East which pose immense challenges for the worldwide group and whose influence is felt in communities the size and breadth of our personal international locations.
“We meet, too, within the aftermath of the incident not removed from this nice constructing that sought to hurt the management of your nation and to foment wider worry and discord.
“Let me say with unshakeable resolve: such acts of violence won’t ever succeed. No matter our variations, no matter disagreements we could have, we stand united in our dedication to uphold democracy, to guard all our individuals from hurt, and to salute the braveness of those that every day danger their lives within the service of our international locations.
“Standing right here in the present day, it’s exhausting to not really feel the burden of historical past on my shoulder — as a result of the fashionable relationship between our two nations and our personal peoples spans not merely 250 years, however over 4 centuries. It’s extraordinary to assume that I’m the nineteenth in our line of sovereigns to review, with every day consideration, the affairs of America.
“So, I come right here in the present day with the best respect for the USA Congress, this citadel of democracy created to signify the voice of all American individuals to advance sacred rights and freedoms.
“Talking on this famend chamber of debate and deliberation, I can not assist however consider my late mom, Queen Elizabeth, who, in 1991, was additionally afforded this sign honor and equally spoke underneath the watchful eye of the Statue of Freedom above us. As we speak I’m right here on this nice event within the lifetime of our nations to specific the best regard and friendship of the British individuals to the individuals of the USA.
“As it’s possible you’ll know, once I tackle my very own Parliament at Westminster, we nonetheless comply with an age-old custom and take a member of Parliament ‘hostage,’ holding her or him at Buckingham Palace till I’m safely returned. As of late, we glance after our ‘visitor’ somewhat nicely – to the purpose that they usually don’t need to depart. I don’t know, Mr. Speaker, if there have been any volunteers for that position right here in the present day?
“As I look again throughout the centuries, Mr. Speaker, there emerge sure patterns, sure self-evident truths from which we will be taught and draw mutual energy.
“With the spirit of 1776 in our minds, we will maybe agree that we don’t all the time agree – a minimum of within the first occasion. Certainly, the very precept on which your Congress was based – no taxation with out illustration – was without delay a elementary disagreement between us, and on the similar time a shared democratic worth which you inherited from us.
“Ours is a partnership born out of dispute, however no much less robust for it, so maybe, on this instance, we will discern that our nations are in reality instinctively like-minded – a product of the frequent democratic, authorized and social traditions through which our governance is rooted to this present day.
“Drawing on these values and traditions, again and again, our two international locations have all the time discovered methods to return collectively. And by Jove, Mr. Speaker, when now we have discovered that strategy to agree, what nice change is led to – not only for the advantage of our peoples, however of all peoples.
“This, I consider, is the particular ingredient in our relationship. As President Trump himself noticed throughout his state go to to Britain final autumn, ‘The bond of kinship and identification between America and the UK is priceless and everlasting. It’s irreplaceable and unbreakable.’
“That is on no account my first go to to Washington DC – the capital of this nice republic. It’s in reality my twentieth go to to the USA, and my first as King and head of the Commonwealth.
“It is a metropolis which symbolizes a interval in our shared historical past, or what Charles Dickens may need known as ‘A Story of Two Georges’: the primary President, George Washington, and my five-times Nice Grandfather, King George III. King George by no means set foot in America and, please relaxation assured, I’m not right here as a part of some crafty rearguard motion.
“The Founding Fathers have been daring and imaginative rebels with a trigger. 2 hundred and fifty years in the past, or, as we are saying in the UK ‘simply the opposite day,’ they declared Independence. By balancing contending forces and drawing energy in range, they united 13 disparate colonies to forge a nation on the revolutionary thought of ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.’ They carried with them, and carried ahead, the good inheritance of the British Enlightenment – in addition to the beliefs which had a good deeper historical past in English frequent legislation and Magna Carta.
“These roots run deep, and they’re nonetheless very important. Our Declaration of Rights of 1689 was not solely the inspiration of our constitutional monarchy, but additionally supplied the supply of so lots of the ideas reiterated, usually verbatim, within the American Invoice of Rights of 1791.
“And people roots go even additional again in our historical past: the U.S. Supreme Courtroom Historic Society has calculated that Magna Carta is cited in a minimum of 160 Supreme Courtroom circumstances since 1789, not least as the inspiration of the precept that govt energy is topic to checks and balances.
“That is the explanation why there stands a stone, by the River Thames at Runnymede the place Magna Carta was signed within the 12 months 1215. This stone data that an acre of that historic and historic website was given to the USA of America by the individuals of the UK, to represent our shared resolve in assist of liberty, and in reminiscence of President John F. Kennedy.
“Distinguished members of the 119th Congress, it’s right here in these very halls that this spirit of liberty and the promise of America’s founders is current in each session and each vote solid.
“Not by the need of 1, however by the deliberation of many, representing the dwelling mosaic of the USA. In each of our international locations, it’s the actual fact of our vibrant, various and free societies that offers us our collective energy, together with to assist victims of a number of the ills that, so tragically, exist in each our societies in the present day.
“And, Mr. Speaker, for a lot of right here – and for myself – the Christian religion is a agency anchor and every day inspiration that guides us not solely personally, however collectively as members of our group. Having devoted a big a part of my life to interfaith relationships and larger understanding, it’s that religion within the triumph of sunshine over darkness which I’ve discovered confirmed numerous occasions.
“By it I’m impressed by the profound respect that develops as individuals of various faiths develop of their understanding of one another. It’s why it’s my hope – my prayer – that, in these turbulent occasions, working collectively and with our worldwide companions, we will stem the beating of plowshares into swords.
“I’m aware that we’re nonetheless within the season of Easter, the season that the majority strengthens my hope. It’s why I consider, with all my coronary heart, that the essence of our two nations is a generosity of spirit and an obligation to foster compassion, to advertise peace, to deepen mutual understanding and to worth all individuals, of all faiths, and of none.
“The alliance that our two nations have constructed over the centuries, and for which we’re profoundly grateful to the American individuals, is really distinctive. And that alliance is a part of what Henry Kissinger described as Kennedy’s ‘hovering imaginative and prescient’ of an Atlantic partnership based mostly on twin pillars: Europe and America. That partnership, I consider Mr. Speaker, is extra essential in the present day than it has ever been.
“The primary reigning British sovereign to set foot in America was my grandfather, King George VI. He visited in 1939 with my beloved grandmother, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mom. The forces of fascism in Europe have been on the march, and a while earlier than the USA had joined us within the protection of freedom. Our shared values prevailed.
“As we speak, we discover ourselves in a brand new period, however these values stay.
“It’s an period that’s, in some ways, extra unstable and extra harmful than the world to which my late mom spoke, on this chamber, in 1991.
“The challenges we face are too nice for anybody nation to bear alone. However on this unpredictable surroundings, our alliance can not relaxation on previous achievements, or assume that foundational ideas merely endure. As my Prime Minister stated final month: ‘ours is an indispensable partnership. We should not disregard every thing that has sustained us for the final eighty years. As an alternative, we should construct on it.’
“Renewal in the present day begins with safety. The UK acknowledges that the threats we face demand a change in British protection.
“That’s the reason our nation, with the intention to be match for the long run, has dedicated to the most important sustained improve in protection spending for the reason that Chilly Warfare – throughout a part of which, over 50 years in the past, I served with immense pleasure within the Royal Navy, following within the naval footsteps of my father, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh; my grandfather, King George VI; my nice uncle, Lord Mountbatten; and my nice grandfather, King George V.
“This 12 months, after all, additionally marks the twenty fifth anniversary of 9/11. This atrocity was a defining second for America and your ache and shock have been felt round the entire world. Throughout my go to to New York, my spouse and I’ll once more pay our respects to the victims, the households, and the bravery proven within the face of horrible loss. We stood with you then. And we stand with you now in solemn remembrance of a day that shall by no means be forgotten.
“Within the fast aftermath of 9/11, when NATO invoked Article 5 for the primary time, and the United Nations Safety Council was united within the face of terror, we answered the decision collectively – as our individuals have performed so for greater than a century, shoulder to shoulder, by means of two World Wars, the Chilly Warfare, Afghanistan and moments which have outlined our shared safety.
“As we speak, Mr. Speaker, that very same, unyielding resolve is required for the protection of Ukraine and her most brave individuals. It’s wanted with the intention to safe a really simply and lasting peace. From the depths of the Atlantic to the disastrously melting icecaps of the Arctic, the dedication and experience of the USA Armed Forces and its allies lie on the coronary heart of NATO, pledged to one another’s protection, defending our residents and pursuits, maintaining North People and Europeans secure from our frequent adversaries.
“Our protection, intelligence and safety ties are hard-wired collectively by means of relationships measured not in years, however in many years.
“As we speak, 1000’s of U.S. service personnel, protection officers and their households are stationed in the UK, as British personnel serve with equal pleasure throughout 30 American states. We’re constructing F-35s collectively. And now we have agreed essentially the most formidable submarine program in historical past, AUKUS, in partnership with Australia, a rustic of which I’m additionally immensely proud to function sovereign.
“We don’t embark on these outstanding endeavors collectively out of sentiment. We achieve this as a result of they construct larger shared resilience for the long run, so making our residents safer for generations to return.
“Our frequent beliefs weren’t solely essential for liberty and equality, they’re additionally the inspiration of our shared prosperity. The rule of legislation: the knowledge of steady and accessible guidelines, an unbiased judiciary resolving disputes and delivering neutral justice. These options created the circumstances for hundreds of years of unmatched financial development in our two international locations. For this reason our governments are concluding new financial and know-how agreements – to jot down the subsequent chapter of our joint prosperity and be certain that British and American ingenuity continues to steer the world.
“Our nations are combining expertise and sources within the applied sciences of tomorrow: our new partnerships in nuclear fusion and quantum computing, and in AI and drug discovery, holding the promise of saving numerous lives.
“Extra broadly, we have a good time the 430 billion {dollars} in annual commerce that continues to develop, the 1.7 trillion {dollars} in mutual funding that fuels that innovation, and the hundreds of thousands of jobs on each side of the Atlantic supported throughout each economies. These are robust foundations on which to proceed to construct, for generations but unborn.
“Our ties in schooling, analysis, and cultural change empower residents and future leaders of each international locations.
“The Marshall Scholarship, named after the good Basic George Marshall, and the Affiliation of which I’m so proud to be patron, are emblematic of the connection between our two international locations.
“Since its founding, greater than 2,300 scholarships have been awarded, opening doorways for People from all walks of life to review at the UK’s main universities.
“In order we glance towards the subsequent 250 years, we should additionally mirror on our shared duty to safeguard nature, our most valuable and irreplaceable asset.
“Millennia earlier than our nations existed, earlier than any border drawn, the mountains of Scotland and Appalachia have been one, a single, steady vary, cast within the historic collision of continents.
“The pure wonders of the USA of America are certainly a singular asset, and generations of People have risen to this calling: indigenous, political and civic leaders, individuals in rural communities and cities alike, have all helped to guard and nurture what President Theodore Roosevelt known as ‘the wonderful heritage’ of this land’s extraordinary pure splendor, on which a lot of its prosperity has all the time depended.
“But at the same time as we have a good time the sweetness that surrounds us, our technology should determine easy methods to tackle the collapse of essential pure methods which threatens excess of the concord and important range of nature. We ignore at our peril the truth that these pure methods, in different phrases, nature’s personal financial system, present the inspiration for our prosperity and our nationwide safety.
“The story of the UK and the USA is, at its coronary heart, a narrative of reconciliation, renewal and noteworthy partnership.
“From the bitter divisions of 250 years in the past, we cast a friendship that has grown into probably the most consequential alliances in human historical past.
“I pray with all my coronary heart that our alliance will proceed to defend our shared values, with our companions in Europe and the Commonwealth, and internationally, and that we ignore the clarion calls to turn into ever extra inward-looking.
“Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice-President, distinguished girls and gents, America’s phrases carry weight and which means, as they’ve since Independence.
“The actions of this nice nation matter much more.
“President Lincoln understood this so nicely, along with his reflection within the magisterial Gettysburg Deal with that the world could little observe what we are saying, however will always remember what we do.
“And so, to the USA of America, in your 250th birthday, let our two international locations rededicate ourselves to one another within the selfless service of our peoples and of all of the peoples of the world.
“God bless the USA and God bless the UK.”
