Was King Charles going to marry a Nixon? Here’s what he said

In a jovial mode at the banquet dinner he hosted for US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump, King Charles made a rare reference to an old news story to joke about his ‘almost’ marriage to a Nixon.

King Charles made the remark during a special banquet dinner arranged for US President Donald Trump at Windsor castle. (Reuters)

While making his speech at the dinner, the King referred to an old news story from the 1970s about his trip to the White House under the presidency of Richard Nixon. Several reports had suggested that the then-young bachelor Prince Charles was going to be in a romantic relationship with Nixon’s daughter.

“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 people,” the King was quoted as saying by People.com.

“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!” he told the attendees at the banquet.

The King’s statement made Trump laugh, who also turned to Kate Middleton to share the light moment with.

What happened in the 1970s?

In the 1970 visit, the then-Prince of Wales was invited to visit the US at President Nixon’s. The King’s sister, Princess Anne, was also invited to the official visit.

Nixon had reportedly hoped that the royals’ state visit would be a huge PR boost and might also result in Charles hitting it off with his eldest daughter, Tricia.

At the time, Nixon had praised Charles as the royal family’s “real gem”, saying that his visit “could do an enormous amount of good for US-British relations”.

King Charles had mentioned Nixon’s wishes to set him up with his daughter, other times as well. In the early 2000s, during his visit to the White House under the office of President George W Bush, then-Prince Charles had joked that “the Bushes had better not try to fix up their twin daughters with his sons William and Harry the way Nixon had worked to set him up with Tricia”, revealed biographer Sally Bedell Smith.

Charles had even been on an outing at a baseball game and an escort to the state dinner for Tricia Nixon in July 1970, People.com reported. However, nothing ever came of that relationship.

Later, Charles married Princess Diana, whom he later divorced and reconnected with his first love, Camilla Parker-Bowles, now known as Queen Camilla. Meanwhile, Tricia Nixon got married to her longtime partner, Harvard law student Edward F Cox, in a ceremony at the White House Rose Garden.