Fox News host Jesse Watters found himself physically removed from Queen Camilla’s presence at a White House state dinner after making an ill-timed joke about gun violence in Washington. The encounter, which Watters himself described on air, added an uncomfortable twist to a high-stakes diplomatic event designed to mend strained relations between the United States and Britain.
The incident took place during formal introductions on Tuesday, April 28, 2026, as President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump hosted King Charles III and Queen Camilla for a white-tie banquet. The dinner marked the second evening of a four-day state visit, the first by a British monarch to America since 2007.
Watters revealed the embarrassing moment himself on the April 29 broadcast of “The Five,” squirming as his colleagues extracted details. He had been making small talk with the 78-year-old queen in the receiving line, asking about her tour of the South Lawn from the previous day. She had visited the White House beehives, including a newly unveiled structure shaped like the mansion itself, and told Watters the experience had been pleasant — “It was very good. No one got stung.”
The Joke That Crossed The Line
“Well, you know, it was Washington D.C., you know, if the bees don’t get you, the guns will,” Watters said he told the queen, according to his own account on the air.
A royal aide moved immediately to intervene. “And then this woman just starts pulling me away from them,” Watters recounted to his visibly shocked co-hosts. “I don’t know what I was saying. Ugh. I started mumbling.”
Dana Perino responded with audible shock — “You said that? To the queen?!” — while Fox host Greg Gutfeld, who also attended the dinner, shrugged it off as “classic Jesse.” Emily Compagno and Harold Ford Jr. had started the segment by complimenting the Fox contingent for dressing appropriately.
His remark came at a particularly fraught moment. Just three days earlier, a gunman had charged a security checkpoint at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner at the Washington Hilton, allegedly planning to kill Trump and Cabinet officials. Gun violence has also become politically explosive in the District, where Trump seized control of the local police force in August 2025 and deployed the National Guard, calling it “liberation day in D.C.” Gun violence in the District actually reached a 30-year low in 2024, according to the Metropolitan Police Department.
A Frosty Reception From The King
The queen wasn’t Watters’ only challenging encounter that evening. Watters’ night had started poorly before he even reached the royals. He told viewers he and his wife, Emma, were briefly held at security after he listed her birthday incorrectly on the entry paperwork. A guard reassured him that “every member of Fox screwed up their paperwork.” Inside, anchor Bret Baier admitted he had also bungled his wife’s birthday, and Gutfeld confessed he had misspelled his wife Elena Moussa’s name.
Once through the receiving line, King Charles, the 77-year-old monarch, appeared unfamiliar with Watters. When Watters attempted to explain his credentials — “I’m on Fox and I have two shows” — he received a dry, very British reply: “Well, they must really love you here.”
Gutfeld’s own encounter with Charles followed a similar pattern. He recounted that Trump introduced him by boasting he had “the No. 1 show on late night,” prompting Charles to ask where, exactly, this late-night show aired. Told it was on Fox, the king replied simply, “I see. It’s on Fox. Very good.” Gutfeld then joked that he “took off with Camilla. Yeah, just to horse around” — a quip Watters predicted would keep him off the next guest list.
A Visit Steeped In Symbolism
The state visit represented Charles’ first trip to the United States as monarch and the first by any British sovereign since 2007. Framed around the 250th anniversary of American independence, it was widely seen as an effort to rescue the “special relationship” after a string of transatlantic disagreements between London and the Trump administration over the war in Iran.
Charles delivered an address to a joint meeting of Congress on Tuesday that drew strong reviews. Standing beside the king before the state dinner, Trump conceded he was “very jealous” of the reception, telling reporters Charles had “made a great speech.”
The visit also leaned into the royal family’s centuries-old beekeeping tradition. The newly expanded White House beehives — including a structure modeled on the mansion — gave the queen a soft-focus photo opportunity on Day 1 that the Watters exchange briefly threatened to overshadow.
A garden party at the British ambassador’s residence on Monday evening had kicked off the social calendar. Beyond the capital, the royal itinerary included stops in New York and Virginia. The couple departed Thursday afternoon after a final day in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley.
Watters leaned into the embarrassment online, posting on X: “I ALMOST got THROWN OUT of the Royal State Dinner.” Gutfeld offered his own postscript on “The Five,” suggesting the night might be a one-off. “It was my first state dinner, it might be my last,” he said. “They’re still investigating the incident in the men’s room.” (Whatever that means.)
