Robert Hardman has interviewed royals, sat in palace drawing rooms, and spent decades covering the British monarchy. But nothing quite prepared him for the moment a sitting U.S. president leaned over and asked him, mid-conversation, whether invading Greenland was a good idea.
Hardman, who also writes for the Daily Mail, was with Trump earlier this year conducting interviews for his upcoming book on the late Queen Elizabeth II. What followed was a remarkably frank exchange one that touched on Greenland, Canada, NATO, and the quietly powerful diplomatic role King Charles III has been playing behind the scenes.
"Do You Think I Should Invade Greenland?"
Speaking on the Palace Confidential podcast, Hardman recalled the moment with striking clarity. Trump, known for floating the idea of annexing Greenland since returning to the White House for his second term, turned the question directly to the biographer.
"At one point in our many conversations he said: 'Do you think I should invade Greenland?'" Hardman recounted.
His response was measured but direct. He told the President it wasn't a good idea that it would damage and potentially destroy NATO. But Hardman didn't stop there. He also took the opportunity to push back on Trump's repeated suggestions about absorbing Canada.
"I think you shouldn't talk about Canada either," Hardman said he told Trump, "because Canada has been a huge ally for both Britain and America right the way through modern history."
The King Factor
What makes this exchange particularly interesting is what Hardman revealed next. He believes King Charles has been playing a quiet but meaningful role in dialing back Trump's more aggressive posturing toward Canada a country where Charles is also the reigning monarch.
"The King is one of the reasons why Donald Trump's talk about annexing Canada is tailing off," Hardman said. He pointed specifically to Charles's decision to open the Canadian Parliament in 2025 as a significant symbolic gesture one that wasn't lost on Washington.
Hardman said he reminded Trump of this directly: "The King is the King of Canada, so taking away one of his kingdoms would not go down well."
Apparently, the argument landed. According to Hardman, Trump acknowledged Canada's deep historical ties to the monarchy and its strong national identity and then said simply: "OK, it's not going to happen."
A State Visit With Real Stakes
The backdrop to all of this is the upcoming royal state visit to the United States, which carries genuine diplomatic weight. King Charles and Queen Camilla are flying out Monday, with a packed schedule that includes a formal state banquet at the White House and a joint address to Congress something no British monarch has done since Queen Elizabeth II stood before both chambers in 1991.
The Foreign Office confirmed the visit is timed to mark the 250th anniversary of American independence a milestone achieved, with some irony, during the reign of Charles's five-times-great-grandfather back in 1776.
Trump himself struck a warm tone when asked about the visit in a recent BBC interview. Speaking about the King, he said: "He's fantastic. He's a fantastic man." When asked whether the visit could help repair strained UK-US relations, Trump's answer was unambiguous: "Absolutely."
Soft Power in Action
What Hardman's account really illustrates is something broader about how modern diplomacy works often not through formal channels, but through personal relationships, symbolic gestures, and the right word dropped at the right moment.
A royal biographer pushing back on a president's foreign policy ideas over the course of a two-day interview. A king opening a parliament thousands of miles away. A state visit carefully framed around shared history. None of it makes headlines on its own but together, it tells a story about how the British monarchy continues to punch well above its weight on the world stage.
And sometimes, it seems, all it takes is reminding the most powerful man in the world that some kingdoms aren't really up for grabs.
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