Editor’s note: Holly Cook Macarro is a board of director on IndiJ Public Media, the parent company of ICT.
Sandra Hale Schulman
Special to ICT
In his historic, successful four-day visit to the U.S., King Charles III and Queen Camilla reached out to tribal leaders to continue international and diplomatic relations.
At a Garden Party held at the British Embassy in Washington D.C., on April 28, The National Congress of American Indians was invited to represent the organization.
Mark Macarro, president of the National Congress of American Indians and Pechanga Band of Indians Tribal Chairman, and Executive Director Larry Wright, Jr. of the national political organization, who is a citizen of the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska, attended along with Holly Cook Macarro of Red Lake Nation and wife of Macarro; Yvette Cooper, Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs; House Speaker Mike Johnson; and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her husband Paul.
Macarro also attended the joint meeting of Congress, with dignitaries and leaders of causes that are important to the King.
The NCAI president stated that it was an honor for him and Wright Jr. to meet the King at the Garden Party at the British Embassy in Washington, D.C.
“We were also deeply honored to be among those invited to attend the King’s historic address before Congress,” Macarro said in a statement. “Tribal Nations and Indigenous Peoples must be seen and included in spaces where diplomacy, history, and future partnerships are being shaped, and NCAI is proud to represent Indian Country.”
Cook Macarro said they received the invitation a week and a half before the event.
“We spoke with King Charles for a few minutes,” Cook Macarro told ICT. “He asked about Mark’s role as the president of NCAI and Mark gave background about NCAI’s role in Indian Country and in D.C. Then he asked what tribe Mark was from, so Mark told him a bit about Pechanga.”
She continued: “Then he asked where I was from, I told him it was just south of the Canadian border. He asked both of us about the relationships with First Nations People of Canada so we talked about that for a bit. He was very interested in both of us and our presence there and he commented on what we were wearing as well.”
Cook Macarro knew this was an opportunity to represent Indigenous designers and artists from head to toe. She wore a cape top and skirt by Rose McFadden from Isabella Rose Design Company adorned with dentallium shells, a purse with a shell handle by House of Sutai, and jewelry from Cody Sanderson.
Macarro wore a black suit with cuffs from Cody Sanderson, a beaded necklace from Stonewall, a gift from tribal chairman, Jack Potter. His other necklace was from his old friend, who’s now passed, Marshall McKay, the long term chairman of the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation Tribal Council.
“It was in the garden of the British embassy and quite beautiful,” Cook Macarro said. “It was an English high tea with small sandwiches, clotted cream, and pastry. They served champagne and wine. We did not get to meet Camilla unfortunately.”
Cook Macarro had consulted prior to the event with Pelosi and asked her if they had to curtsy. Pelosi said, “No, we are not subjects of the Queen.”
Still meeting a King can be a powerful moment.
“I am rarely at a loss for words,” Cook Macarro says. “But when the King reached out to shake my hend I stammered for a second before I got the words out. I said ‘Good afternoon, your Majesty.’ Seriously addressing someone as your Majesty! We’ve had the great opportunity to be in some pretty rarified air, but that really did take our breath away. The moment was not lost on us, that we were there representing the history of colonization in the United States.”
‘A gentle soul’ at the National Park
King Charles III traveled to Virginia on April 30 to tour the Shenandoah National Park and met with leaders of the Monacan Indian Nation, a federally recognized tribe in Virginia, to discuss conservation — one of the focal points of his agenda worldwide.
The tribe lives on their ancestral lands which cover the area. The meeting highlighted Indigenous land stewardship and marked the final day of the King’s state visit.
Monacan Chief Dianne Shields said the meeting reaffirmed a nation-to-nation relationship that was established in the 1680 Treaty of Middle Plantation. The King and Shields discussed environmental conservation, global climate work, and the tribe’s storied history.
“We are honored to meet with King Charles III in our historic territory to renew and reaffirm our nation-to-nation relationship that was first established in the 1680 Treaty of Middle Plantation between our Monacan ancestors and King Charles II,” Chief Shields told People Magazine. “I look forward to sharing our deep connection to nature and the importance of Indigenous land stewardship.”
The Monacan Indian Nation didn’t respond to ICT’s request for a comment on the King’s state visit in time for this story’s publication.
At a reception Shields said King Charles was a “gentle soul” who was “so polite to everybody.”
The Monacan Indian Nation has more than 2,000 enrolled citizens and has lived in their ancestral homeland for more than 12,000 years.
Shields, 78, is the elected tribal leader of the Monacan Indian Nation who has held office since June 17, 2023. She is based in Amherst County and leads the federally recognized tribe by advocating for the preservation of their culture, their history, and the revitalization of the Monacan Ancestral Museum.