A dinner-time joke recently heaped irony on a geography that has become history. During his state visit to the US, King Charles III told Donald Trump, “You recently commented, Mr President, that if it were not for the US, European countries would be speaking German. Dare I say that, if it wasn’t for us, you’d be speaking French.” This came from a member of the family that changed its name from Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to Windsor in 1917 to avoid being pilloried for their Germanic origins. The second dose of irony came from the ‘No kings’ placards being paraded around the US capital—aimed not at Charles, but at Trump.
