A Fox News personality’s ill-timed crack about gun violence abruptly ended his conversation with Queen Camilla at a White House state dinner last week, forcing a royal aide to physically steer the 78-year-old queen away from the awkward exchange.
Jesse Watters disclosed the uncomfortable moment himself while appearing on “The Five” Wednesday, one day after the formal banquet concluded the second day of King Charles III and Queen Camilla’s four-day state visit to the United States. The April 28, 2026, dinner at the White House brought President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump together with the British royals for a white-tie affair designed to mend strained relations between Washington and London.
During the receiving line introductions, Watters struck up small talk with the queen about her tour of the South Lawn, where officials had recently installed a beehive modeled after the White House itself. When he inquired about her experience, she responded cheerfully that everything had gone smoothly — “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 handler stepped in immediately. “And then this woman just starts pulling me away from them,” Watters told his stunned colleagues. “I don’t know what I was saying. Ugh. I started mumbling.”
His co-hosts reacted with shock and amusement. Dana Perino gasped — “You said that? To the queen?!” — while Greg Gutfeld, who also attended the dinner, shrugged it off as “classic Jesse.” Emily Compagno and Harold Ford Jr. had begun the segment by complimenting the Fox contingent for their appearance.
The remark landed particularly badly given recent events. Just three days before the state dinner, 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 emerged as a flashpoint 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
Watters’ missteps began before he even entered the dinner. He revealed on air that he and his wife, Emma, were briefly detained at security after he incorrectly listed her birthday on entry paperwork. A guard consoled him by noting 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.
After surviving the receiving line, Watters found little warmth from the 77-year-old monarch. King Charles, he said, had no clue who he was. Watters offered his credentials — “I’m on Fox and I have two shows” — and received a dry, very British reply: “Well, they must really love you here.”
Gutfeld’s exchange with the king carried a similar flavor. 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 trip represented Charles’s first visit to the United States as monarch and the first state visit by any British sovereign since 2007. Timed to the 250th anniversary of American independence, it was broadly understood as an attempt to rescue the “special relationship” after a series of transatlantic clashes between London and the Trump administration over the war in Iran.
Charles delivered an address to a joint meeting of Congress on Tuesday that garnered widespread praise. Standing beside the king before the state dinner, Trump admitted he was “very jealous” of the reception, telling reporters Charles had “made a great speech.”
The visit also highlighted the royal family’s centuries-old beekeeping tradition. The newly expanded White House beehives — including a structure modeled on the mansion — provided the queen with a soft-focus photo opportunity on Day 1 that the Watters exchange briefly threatened to overshadow.
The royal itinerary extended beyond Washington to include stops in New York and Virginia. A garden party at the British ambassador’s residence on Monday evening launched the social calendar, and the couple departed Thursday afternoon after a final day in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley.
Watters, for his part, 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.”