King Charles shakes hands with Zelensky at major Sandringham meeting

In a rare meeting for the Royal Family, King Charles has met with the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, at the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk.

King Charles’s impromptu meeting with Mr Zelensky has taken place after the president met with Labour leader, Keir Starmer, hosting a weekend summit of EU leaders on the Ukraine/Russia crisis. It emerged Sir Keir Starmer urged Volodymyr Zelensky to return to the White House and patch up his relationship with Donald Trump after the showdown saw Mr Trump accuse Zelensky of "gambling with World War Three" and being "disrespectful" towards America.

In the public spat, Donald Trump and Zelensky clashed in their meeting in front of media at the White House in Washington D.C. in a tense exchange.

The King's meeting with Zelensky comes as Donald Trump shared a social media post urging Volodymyr Zelenskyy to "back down" and accept the US's terms to end the war in Ukraine.

At the Oval Office on Friday, Trump and his vice president, JD Vance, berated Zelenskyy for being "disrespectful" and not thanking the US enough for its support.

"You’re gambling with the lives of millions of people," Trump explained. "You’re gambling with World War III, and what you’re doing is very disrespectful to the country – this country."

After Vance told Zelenskyy Ukraine had manpower and military recruiting problems, Zelenskyy said war means "everybody has problems, even you," adding the U.S. would feel the war "in the future."

"Don't tell us what we're going to feel," Trump responded. "We're trying to solve a problem. Don't tell us what we're going to feel."

Meanwhile, King Charles has invited Donald Trump to make an unprecedented second state visit to the UK in a letter handed to the US president by Keir Starmer. Queen Elizabeth II previously hosted Trump on a state visit in 2019 during his first term in office.

Trump received the invitation during a meeting at the White House on Thursday, with Starmer presenting the letter from the reigning monarch.

"This is really special. This has never happened before. This is unprecedented," Starmer told Trump, before pressing the president for an answer to the invitation.

Foreign monarchs, presidents or prime ministers are invited to visit the king on the advice and request of the Foreign Office, with the decision made by the government.