Sawt Falasteen - King Charles gets warm welcome in Bermuda after whirlwind US visit

The monarch greeted a line of schoolchildren, pausing to chat with them, on the steps of the whitewashed St. Peter's church in St. George's.

"Thank you for coming," said one crowd member who held a miniature union flag on the first day of the two-day stop.

"Get home safe," said another member of the hundreds-strong crowd gathered in King's Square.

One well-wisher wore a plastic crown speckled with imitation jewels as she filmed the gathering on her cell phone after a 21-gun salute.

Charles received a Royal Salute and the Royal Bermuda Regiment's band played the national anthem before setting a more relaxed tone with Bob Marley and the Wailers' song "Jamming."

The island stop -- the first visit by Charles to a British Overseas Territory as sovereign -- comes after a packed US itinerary for the king and Queen Camilla, who did not join for the Bermuda leg of the trip.

- Trump charmed -

The four-day US visit was largely seen as a success, with President Donald Trump serving as solicitous host who honored the royal couple with a white-tie banquet at the White House.

"He's a great king -- the greatest king, in my book," Trump told reporters as they said farewell.

Soon after, Trump announced he was removing tariffs on Scottish whisky "in honor" of Charles and Camilla.

"The King and Queen got me to do something that nobody else was able to do, without hardly even asking!" Trump said on his Truth Social platform.

With the US trip concluded, the royals thanked Americans for "the warmth of your welcome" throughout the couple's first US trip as king and queen.

"Until the next time... God Bless America," they posted on X.

The centerpiece of the trip was Charles's speech Tuesday to the US Congress, the first by a British monarch since Queen Elizabeth II in 1991.

The address was warmly received, even as Charles ranged over subjects from climate change and the need for restraints on presidential power to the importance of NATO and defense of Ukraine -- sensitive issues for Trump's ruling Republicans.

The 77-year-old monarch skirted around tensions between Trump and Prime Minister Keir Starmer over Britain's refusal to join the war against Iran, insisting the partnership between the two countries was "born out of dispute, but no less strong for it."

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R.Shaban--SF-PST