Rod Stewart has told King Charles that he “put that little ratbag” Donald Trump “in his place”.
Stewart made the comments to the monarch at an event in London yesterday (Monday May 11), which celebrated the 50th anniversary of the King’s Trust, formerly the Prince’s Trust.
At the event, the ‘Sailing’ singer praised King Charles for his recent visit to the US and the summit with President Donald Trump. “You were superb. Absolutely superb. You put that little ratbag in his place,” he said, to which the King appeared to laugh.
King Charles met up with Trump during a four-day visit to the US last month, where he discussed the “indispensable alliance” between the UK and the States, called on America’s continued defence of Ukraine, and outlined the importance of NATO.
During the state banquet, the King also quipped that America might be “speaking French” if it were not for the British.
Rare moment for King Charles at the Kings Trust event as Sir Rod Stewart tells him of his recent state visit to the US: ‘May I say well done in the Americas. You were superb. Absolutely superb. You put that little rat bag in his place! pic.twitter.com/geZiqSPC2U
— Rock Photography (@Photomusicrock) May 12, 2026
The comments from Stewart come just months after he hit out at US President Donald Trump over his false claims about British troops in Afghanistan, and urged for UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Reform UK leader Nigel Farage to force the President to apologise.
At the time, Trump questioned whether NATO allies would come to America’s aid, and claimed some nations avoided serving on the front line in Afghanistan.
“It hurts me badly, deeply, when I read that draft dodger Trump has criticised our troops in Afghanistan for not being on the front line,” Stewart said in a video shared to social media afterwards, going on to highlight the scale of British deaths during the conflict, where 457 UK service personnel were killed.
“We lost over 400 of our guys… Think of their parents. Think about it. And Trump calls them almost like cowards. It’s unbearable,” he said.
Before then, Stewart spoke about his relationship with Trump, who is his former neighbour, and said that while they used to be close, “since he became President, he became another guy. Somebody I didn’t know.”
He added that the President’s role in Israel’s war in Gaza made a potential reconnection difficult: “No, I can’t anymore. As long as he’s selling arms to the Israelis — and he still is. How’s that war ever gonna stop?”
In March 2025, Stewart also weighed in on the clash between Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, stressing that “we must keep supporting the Ukrainians”.
Those comments came after the US president and his Ukrainian counterpart held a press conference in the White House, which descended into a bad-tempered and fiery exchange of words, with Trump claiming that Zelenskyy was “not ready for peace” and “gambling with World War Three”.
