More than 200 years after the Boston Tea Party, a simple cup of tea served to a British royal at the White House is said to have “horrified” the President of the United States. When King Charles, then-the Prince of Wales, visited Washington, D.C. in 1981, he met with President Ronald Reagan in the Oval Office of the White House, where the “faux pas” took place.
David Charter, author of Royal Audience: 70 Years, 13 Presidents — One Queen’s Special Relationship with America, tells HELLO!: “Ronald Reagan was horrified when he had Prince Charles into the Oval Office and they brought him a cup of tea that still had the tea bag in it, and he could see that he wasn’t drinking this cup of tea, and he thought he’d made a terrible faux pas.”
It’s “a very small little faux pas like that,” David thinks “that somehow only endear each side [the British and Americans] to the other a little bit more”.
Reagan, who was president from 1981 to 1989, wrote about the tea moment in his diary. In an entry on May 1, 1981, the 40th President of the United States penned: “Charles. He’s a most likeable person. The ushers brought him tea – horror of horrors they served it our way with a tea bag in the cup. It finally dawned on me that he was just holding the cup & then finally put it down on a table. I didn’t know what to do. Mike escorted him back to the W.H. and apologized. The Prince, ‘I didn’t know what to do with it.'”
Despite the faux pas, Charles would go on to see Reagan again. The future King returned to the White House in 1985 with Princess Diana on their first joint state visit to the U.S. During the trip, the British royal couple enjoyed tea with the President and his wife, First Lady Nancy Reagan, in the West Sitting Hall in the White House Residence. It was on that same trip that Diana famously danced with John Travolta at a dinner held at the White House.
© Anwar Hussein/Getty Images“The dinner for the Prince & Diana was a great success. It had not a hint of ‘State Dinner’ flavor. Everyone seemed to have a wonderful time,” President Reagan wrote in his diary. “Ted G. had decorated the W.H. more beautifully than we’ve ever seen it. Leontyne Price sang wonderfully & then everyone danced like at a Junior Prom.”
King Charles will be back at the White House in late April 2026. He and Queen Camilla are undertaking a state visit to the United States to commemorate the 250th anniversary of American Independence.
Discussing the special relationship between British monarchs and American presidents, David recalls a quote King George III made to John Adams during his 1785 visit to London. “John Adams, who was the future second President, came over as ambassador to London under George Washington’s presidency, and King George said to him that ‘I was the last to consent to the separation, but the separation having been made, and having become inevitable, I’ve always said that I would be the first to meet the friendship of the United States as an independent power.’ And I believe they shook hands on it,” David says, also noting that a “pattern was set actually by the royals.”
“Queen Victoria had extensive correspondence with most of, if not all, of the presidents. She didn’t travel to America, but she had extensive correspondence with most, and, of course, famously sent over the Resolute Desk that was made from the timbers of a ship that was rescued by the Americans. It was a sign of enduring friendship between Britain and America. And that desk, of course, has been the President’s desk in the White House, I think, since the times of Carter, I think it’s been ever present.”
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