PEOPLE's Erin Hill recounts how King Charles’ historic visit to small-town Virginia drew crowds, cheers and a surprisingly personal reaction

© <p>Erin Hill;  Aaron Chown - Pool via Samir Hussein/WireImage</p>

Royal biographer Robert Hardman was called in for an Oval Office meeting and ended up hearing the president's unfiltered opinions on the royals

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PEOPLE's Simon Perry was in the Capitol in Washington, D.C., when King Charles delivered his address

© <p>Courtesy of Simon Perry; Samir Hussein/WireImage</p>

While King Charles headed to Bermuda after the U.S., Queen Camilla didn't join him and instead caught a commercial flight

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King skillfully appeals to Republicans fond of Britain and Democrats anxious about rules-based order in state visit

For his last trick, the king revealed a bell that hung from the conning tower of a Royal Navy submarine launched from a UK shipyard in 1944. Its name was HMS Trump. “And should you ever need to get hold of us,” Charles III said, “well, just give us a ring.”

The polished brass bell bearing the name “Trump”, presented at Tuesday’s state dinner at the White House, was an ego-flattering masterstroke that will have prompted groans in foreign capitals from Paris to Canberra to Tokyo. How can they ever hope to match that?

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© Photograph: Alex Brandon/AP

© Photograph: Alex Brandon/AP

© Photograph: Alex Brandon/AP

"We leave a piece of our ❤️ behind and take a little of yours back home with us," the personal message said

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Royal watchers in Britain called the visit of King Charles III to America a master class in understated criticism.

The monarch spent four days in the United States, attending a packed agenda of events alongside wife Queen Camilla

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