Legendary rocker Rod Stewart seemingly referred to President Donald Trump as a “little rat bag” during a candid conversation with King Charles III.
A viral clip shared by Rebecca English, the Daily Mail’s royal editor, captured an awkward moment as the king, 77, greeted a group of celebrities — including Stewart, 81, and his Faces bandmate Ronnie Wood — backstage at the the 50th anniversary celebration of The King’s Trust charity at London’s historic Royal Albert Hall on Monday, May 11.
Stewart seemingly surprised Charles with a joke about the monarch’s recent state visit to the U.S., telling him, “May I say well done in the Americas. You were superb. Absolutely superb. You put that little rat bag in his place!”
The king appeared to chuckle at Stewart’s remark and gesture towards him before moving on to speak with Wood, 78.
Us Weekly has reached out to representatives for the White House, Buckingham Palace and Stewart for comment.
Monday’s gala was held to celebrate alumni, ambassadors, patrons and volunteers from the King’s Trust, which the monarch founded in 1976 to champion vulnerable young people across the U.K.
The event was presented by iconic British TV hosts Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly and featured stars such as George and Amal Clooney, Rita Ora and Lily Collins on the guest list, among others.
Prior to the 2016 election, Stewart described Trump, 79, as a personal friend and his Florida neighbor but later criticized both his first and second administrations. In June 2025, he told the Radio Times that Trump no longer resembled the man he once knew.
Rod Stewart; Donald Trump; King Charles III Getty Images (3); Ethan Miller; Chris Jackson / POOL / AFP; Roberto Schmidt
“I’m not a great fan of Trump. I knew him very, very well. I used to go to his house,” Stewart said at the time. “I live literally half a mile away… We’re both on the beach. I used to go to his Christmas parties. He’s always been a bit of a man’s man. I liked him for that. But he didn’t, as far as I’m concerned, treat women very well. But since he became President, he became another guy. Somebody I didn’t know.”
He went on, “I can’t [consider him a friend] any more. As long as he’s selling arms to the Israelis — and he still is. How’s that war ever gonna stop? And we [the British] should stop selling them as well.”
Meanwhile, Charles and Queen Camilla held an official visit in the U.S. from April 27 to April 30 and attended a state dinner at the White House. The king became only the second member of the British royal family to address Congress on April 28 when he spoke about climate change and the recent White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting.
The king avoided any direct mention of the crimes of late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein despite his brother Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s connection to the disgraced financier. Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested on February 19 on suspicion of misconduct in public office for allegedly passing confidential information to Epstein during his time as a U.K. trade envoy. He has not entered a plea. (Epstein died by suicide at age 66 in August 2019 after being arrested on federal sex crimes charges.)
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