King Charles Was Almost 'Married Off' to This President's Daughter During His 1st US Visit in 1970
King Charles' first visit to the United States was in July 1970 at the age of 21, and the president at the time had big plans for the heir apparent and his daughter.
Charles' parents, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, did not accompany him and his sister, Princess Anne, who was almost 20 at the time, overseas to the White House. Instead, the British royals were hosted by President Richard Nixon, First Lady Pat Nixon, and their daughters, Tricia Nixon and Julie Nixon Eisenhower. The two-day trip was stacked with mostly informal, social gatherings, but the president was hoping to play cupid between Charles and Tricia.
Charles and Anne's visit was at the request of President Nixon, who invited them for an official visit during his first year in office. While Tricia, who is two years older than Charles, accompanied the siblings on various outings, no romantic connection blossomed between her and the former Prince of Wales. However, Charles still left a very positive impression.
The president praised Charles as "the real gem" of the royal family in a memo to his national security adviser, Henry Kissinger, adding that the visit did "an enormous amount of good for U.S.-British relations."
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Charles wrote a thank-you note to the Nixons for the "kindness" and hospitality.
"Both my sister and I take back to Britain the most heart-warming evidence of what is known as the special relationship between our two countries and of the great hospitality shown to us by you and your family," he wrote at the time.
In later years, Charles married Princess Diana in 1981. They welcomed two sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, before ultimately divorcing in 1996. He married his current spouse, Camilla Parker Bowles, in 2005. As for Tricia, she didn't need much help in the romance department. She married her longtime love, attorney Edward Cox, in June 1971. They welcomed their son, Christopher Nixon Cox, in 1979 and are still married to this day.
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While Charles remained a gentleman throughout his visit, it was not lost on him that the president hoped he would hit it off with Tricia. In September 2025, Charles recalled his very first visit to the United States during a banquet held in honor of President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump's official state visit to the U.K.
"For my part, I have always admired the ingenuity of the American people, and the principles of freedom which your great democracy has represented since its inception," Charles said. "Throughout my life, from my very first visit to the United States in 1970 and over 20 visits since that time, I have cherished the close ties between the British and American peoples."
He quipped, "In fact, had the media succeeded in the 1970s in their own attempt at deepening the special relationship, I myself might have been married off within the Nixon family!"
Charles has been to the US 20 times and has met with 10 out of the 14 sitting presidents during his lifetime. He and his wife, Queen Camilla, are scheduled for another trip to Washington, D.C., and New York City from April 27 to April 30, where he will meet with President Trump and make an address to Congress.
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This story was originally published April 26, 2026 at 6:33 PM.