King Charles writes to Donald Trump after assassination attempt

Britain's King Charles III has written to US presidential candidate Donald Trump after an assassination attempt on the former president during an election rally in the United States, Buckingham Palace said on Monday.

The 78-year-old Republican nominee for the November presidential race was addressing supporters in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Sunday when he was shot at by a gunman.

The British monarch's letter, the contents of which have not been disclosed by the palace, was delivered soon after by the UK Embassy in Washington DC.

In 2019, then as Prince of Wales, the royal hosted then President Trump and his wife Melania for afternoon tea at his Clarence House residence during a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) summit in London.

His mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, hosted a state banquet for Trump during his State Visit to the UK earlier that year.

The news of the King's letter came as Buckingham Palace announced that the 75-year-old monarch, who was undergoing treatment for an undisclosed form of cancer, will undertake two royal visits in October. After Australia, he and his wife Queen Camilla will visit Samoa to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) 2024.

The King and Queen will visit Australia at the invitation of the Australian government, where their programme will feature engagements in the Australian Capital Territory and New South Wales. Their Majesties' State Visit to Samoa will celebrate the strong bilateral relationship between the Pacific Island nation and the UK, Buckingham Palace said.

Meanwhile, world leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi have been condemning the assassination attempt on Trump, following which the suspected shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks was shot dead at the scene by Secret Service personnel.

Corey Comperatore, a 50-year-old volunteer fire chief, is said to have died at the rally as he attempted to protect his family members when the shots were fired. Two other people shot are in a stable condition, according to local Pennsylvania police.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke to Trump in the immediate aftermath and, according to Downing Street, condemned the violence, expressed his condolences for the victims and their families, and wished the President and those injured a quick recovery.

I am appalled by the shocking scenes at President Trump's rally and we send him and his family our best wishes. Political violence in any form has no place in our societies and my thoughts are with all the victims of this attack, Starmer said in a post on X.

Trump, who raised his fist to the crowd while bleeding after the shooting, told 'The New York Post' he was "supposed to be dead" and described the assassination attempt as a "surreal experience".