In advance of King Charles’ upcoming visit to Washington, D.C., it’s worth looking back at the long relationship between the White House and Buckingham Palace. While American presidents and British royals are fast friends today, this was not always the case.

King George III, of course, was the villain in our story of the American Revolution, and he was still in the picture during the War of 1812, in which British troops burned the White House to the ground.

In the middle of the 19th century, Queen Victoria became a heroine to some, but a villainess to others, when she read the anti-slavery novel “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” aloud to the royal family. Abolitionists may have liked this, but it was less favorably received in the slaveholding South.

Things began to change in the late 19th century due to both technological and diplomatic advancements. The United States and Britain began to recognize common interests, and transatlantic travel and communication became easier.

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By 1903, when former President Theodore Roosevelt broadcast the first transatlantic message over the radio, he directed it to Britain’s King Edward VII, saying:

“In taking advantage of the wonderful triumph of research and ingenuity which has been achieved in perfecting a system of wireless telegraphy, I extend on behalf of the American people most cordial greetings and good wishes to you and all the people of the British Empire.”

In the 1910s, the U.S. and Britain grew closer as allies against Germany in World War I. In 1939, King George VI made the first visit of a British royal to the White House, visiting former President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

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The U.S. still had a bit of an anti-royal chip on its shoulder, though. Roosevelt famously served hot dogs to the king and queen to show his connection to the common man.

Our nations became even closer as a result of our alliance in both World War II and in the subsequent Cold War. Improvements in transatlantic travel meant that visits by presidents to London and royals to Washington became semiregular events.

In her 70-year reign from 1952 to 2022, Queen Elizabeth II met 13 of the 14 presidents who held office during that period. This included every sitting U.S. president from Dwight D. Eisenhower to Joe Biden, with the sole exception of Lyndon B. Johnson.

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Although the queen’s role was now largely ceremonial, sometimes there was a diplomatic component to her visits as well. When she visited Eisenhower in 1957, she helped smooth over tensions that had emerged between Britain and the U.S. as a result of the Suez Crisis.

Sometimes there was a larger, more public element to her visits. In 1976, Queen Elizabeth spoke at the White House while visiting former President Gerald Ford during U.S. bicentennial celebrations, perhaps demonstrating that Britain had finally gotten over things from 1776.

In recent decades, nearly every president has had some interaction with the royal family: Prince Charles’ wife, Lady Diana, famously danced with actor John Travolta at a White House event during the Reagan administration in 1985.

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Queen Elizabeth also granted former President Ronald Reagan an honorary knighthood in 1989, after he left office. Former President George H.W. Bush had the queen on his legendary 30,000-person Christmas card list.

In December 2000, with the presidential election to determine his successor still in doubt, former President Bill Clinton had tea with Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace.

When I served in the George W. Bush White House, I remember Karl Rove telling a very funny story from his stay at Buckingham Palace with Bush and forgetting a pair of socks. At an early morning White House senior staff meeting, Rove did an uproarious imitation of a palace attendant presenting a new pair of socks to the “Right Honourable Mr. Rove” on a silver tray.

Sometimes there have been diplomatic snafus: former President Barack Obama got some pushback for gifting the queen an iPod in 2009. It turns out that she already had one. Biden got better grades for giving her a sterling silver box from Tiffany & Co. with personalized engravings.

And now, as King Charles embarks on his first visit to the U.S. in President Donald Trump’s second term, the U.S. and Britain are in the midst of a disagreement over the war with Iran.

Charles is not a political ruler, but perhaps his visit, like his mother’s in 1957, can smooth over tensions and help maintain the special relationship America has long had with the United Kingdom.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche revealed Sunday that the alleged gunman accused in Saturday’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting in Washington, D.C., appears to have traveled from Los Angeles through Chicago to the nation’s capital by train.

“What we have learned and what they’ve learned just overnight is that it appears he traveled from Los Angeles through Chicago to Washington, D.C., and it appears he traveled by train during both legs of that trip,” Blanche told Fox News’s Shannon Bream on “Fox News Sunday.”

“The investigation is rapidly developing,” he added.

Authorities executed multiple search warrants overnight in Los Angeles and Washington, including at a hotel room where the suspect was staying, according to Blanche. Investigators are also reviewing devices and communications recovered during the searches.

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“Law enforcement executed multiple search warrants last night, not only in Los Angeles but also in Washington, D.C., in the hotel room where the suspect was staying, and they executed search warrants on devices, and they’re going through that information right now,” Blanche said.

Blanche said investigators are still examining the motive, but early evidence suggests the suspect may have been targeting members of the Trump administration. He cautioned that the case remains in its early stages.

“As far as motivation, we are still looking into that,” Blanche said. “It appears he was targeting members of the administration, but I say that generally because that’s all we know right now.”

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Bream asked whether the use of rail travel instead of flying may indicate an effort to avoid airport security records or TSA search. Blanche said authorities have not yet determined why the suspect chose the route.

“Why he did — that we don’t know at this point, but it could be the reasons you just described. It could be other reasons,” Blanche said. “We don’t know whether he had the firearms with him.”

Blanche added that investigators believe the suspect purchased the firearms within the past several years, though authorities are still working to establish how the weapons were transported.

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“It does appear that he purchased those firearms within the past couple of years,” Blanche said. “That could be another reason why he traveled by train because he had the firearms with him, but I’m speculating there.”

Federal prosecutors are expected to pursue initial charges tied to firearm use during a violent crime and assault on a federal officer using a dangerous weapon, with additional charges possible as evidence develops.

“We don’t know what charges could come later. It depends on what evidence we develop,” Blanche said. “But right now those two charges are the ones that we expect.”

Blanche also praised the response from security personnel and law enforcement agencies, saying they prevented the suspect from breaching the security perimeter near President Donald Trump.

“The reality is he didn’t really get past the perimeter,” Blanche said. “That means law enforcement, Secret Service, the Metropolitan Police Department, the FBI did their jobs.”

Cheryl Hines is detailing the terrifying moment she and husband, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., were rushed out of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner after apparent gunshots were heard.

“Okay so I just got back from the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. That was a crazy moment in time,” Hines said, via her Instagram Stories.

“So we were there, and we heard shots, everybody got under the tables, nobody knew what was going on, and then Bobby’s security detail surrounded us, and took us, had to lift me over chairs, because I’m in heels, and a gown,” she added. “They took us through all of the back ways, and we got in the car and left.”

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Shortly after, Hines gave another update on social media.

“Thank you for everyone reaching out asking if we’re okay, and we are okay. I’m in my pajamas now watching the news break just like you guys, but everybody stay safe.”

Chaos broke out at the event Saturday night when suspected gunman Cole Allen reportedly stormed a security checkpoint and opened fire.

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President Donald Trump was immediately rushed from the ballroom at the Washington Hilton Hotel. Video from inside the event showed attendees taking cover under tables as panic spread through the room.

The moment carried additional weight for several attendees whose lives had already been shaped by political violence, including Trump, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and TPUSA CEO Erika Kirk.

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“The people that make the biggest impact, they’re the ones that [shooters] go after,” Trump said late on Saturday evening from a press conference at the White House. “They don’t go after the ones that don’t do much because they like it that way.” 

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nephew of President John F. Kennedy, was swiftly escorted out of the room on Saturday, an HHS official told Fox News Digital. His family history is closely tied to two tragic assassinations.

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Trump hailed law enforcement during his press conference from the White House late on Saturday, saying the situation was “incredibly acted upon by Secret Service and law enforcement.” 

“[The suspect] had a long way to go. That was really a first line of defense. And they got him. And they really, you know, they acted incredibly,” he continued.

The suspected gunman, identified as a 31-year-old Cole Allen of California, was taken into custody. 

Fox News Digital’s Ashley J. DiMella contributed to this post.