Washington was supposed to roll out the red carpet for King Charles III. Instead, it briefly hoisted the wrong country's flag. Photos circulating on X on Friday showed Australian flags — not the Union Jack — lining 17th Street near the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, just days before the King and Queen Camilla are due to arrive in the American capital. The flags had been put up by public works crews preparing the city for the first state visit by a British monarch sinceMay 2007, when Queen Elizabeth II was hosted by President George W. Bush. The blunder was quickly spotted by passersby, with photos spreading rapidly across X within hours of appearing.

A Department of Transportation official moved fast to contain it. 'We posted those flags, but it was quickly rectified, and we were able to remove them,' the officialtoldThe Washington Examiner. A review into exactly how the mix-up happened is reportedly underway, with officials noting flags are typically stored and clearly labelled.

The error sparked plenty of mockery online, though some pointed out it was not entirely without logic. King Charles also serves as the constitutional head of state of Australia, meaning the flags were still, in a sense, flying in his honour. That technicality did little to spare Washington fromthe jokes. 'They couldn't bother to take 15 seconds and google "UK flag?"' one user wrote on X. Another quipped, 'I blame George Bush and no child left behind,' while a third offered some relief, writing, 'Glad they fixed it before the King arrives.'

Others were more philosophical. 'They should have kept the Australian flags up,' one commenter argued. 'Charles is constitutionally our head of state.' The distinction between the two flags is easy enough to miss — the Australian flag contains the Union Jack in its upper-left canton, which may explain why the error slipped through initial checks.

The flag mix-up, embarrassing as it was, came at a moment when both Washington and London were under pressure to make this visit count. The long-planned trip coincides with an unusually delicate time for the'special relationship'between the US and the UK, following weeks of Trump repeatedly attacking British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his government for not offering their full-throated support for the US offensive against Iran.

The British and Australian flags line 17th Street for the arrival of King Charles.pic.twitter.com/hj4Y0IlCfd

The state visit isscheduledfrom 27 to 30 April, beginning with the President and First Lady greeting Their Majesties at the South Portico of the White House, followed by tea in the Green Room and a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office. In a phone interview withthe BBC, Trump said the visit could 'absolutely' help repair ties between the two nations. 'He's fantastic. He's a fantastic man. Absolutely the answer is yes,' he said, adding, 'I know him well. I've known him for years.' The BBC interview also saw Trump turn his attention to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, saying Starmer could only 'recover' if he changed course on immigration.

Charles will also address a joint meeting of the US Congress, becoming only thesecond British monarch to do soafter his mother Queen Elizabeth II spoke at the Capitol on 16 May 1991. There will also be a state dinner and a ceremony honouring fallen soldiers, underscoring the military partnership between the two allies.

Flag protocol during state visits is not a minor detail. Every banner hung along a motorcade route or outside a federal building is a deliberate act of diplomatic courtesy, and getting it wrong — even briefly — draws attention in a way that organisers spend months trying to avoid. With US-UK relations navigating one of their more turbulent periods in recent memory, the pressure on Washington to execute a flawless welcome has rarely been higher. The flags have since been replaced with the Union Jack, and the city's preparations are otherwise on track, but the brief stumble was a reminder that even the most carefully choreographed visits can be undone by something as simple as a mislabelled storage box.

Source: International Business Times UK