Charles III’s state visit to the US occasioned a good deal of commentary either celebrating the ‘special relationship’ between Britain and the US or lamenting its deficiencies. The Financial Times editorial board clung to the deep ‘military, intelligence and security co-operation’ even if the political relationship has seen better days. The Telegraph saw regal diplomacy as evidence of a bond forged on a more rarefied plane than that of ‘petty politics’. In the Times , William Hague argued for accepting a gradual loss of intimacy but warned against becoming ‘pointlessly anti-American’. In a leaked recording of a talk he gave in February, the British ambassador to Washington, Christian Turner, was heard to say that the ‘special relationship’ between Britain and the US was a misnomer (unlike the one between the US and Israel). But Turner wasn’t ready to give up on the idea entirely. In his full comments he rejected the idea of a transatlantic rupture: ‘defence and security’ ties must endure.…