Lord Nicholas Soames, former high-ranking UK conservative party politician and grandson of Winston Churchill, spoke with undergraduate and graduate students at Georgetown University on September 20. Douglas Smith, Senior Vice President of Public Affairs at Orchard Global Asset Management, joined him for this informal conversation.
Students asked Soames about topics ranging from the royal family to U.S. presidential elections. Soames discussed Britain’s greatest assets – the Crown and the Commonwealth – and highlighted the importance of Russia as a military power in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine war. He especially praised the courage of Ukrainians in the face of Russian aggression. He shared his views on the “special relationship”, a term coined by his grandfather to describe US-UK relations, and encouraged students to devote themselves to public service.
One student asked Soames about his thoughts on the monarchy and its role in the 21st century.
“I think the Crown is incredibly important,” Soames responded. “My grandfather called it the golden thread that binds the whole of the United Kingdom together. I think that Britain’s greatest asset outside its military and security is without a doubt the royal family, and Britain comes top in almost all soft power indicators, largely because of it.”
He also argued that the Commonwealth remains a powerful force in the world and serves to improve the lives of its citizens.
“It’s an extraordinary institution. It’s half the world still. So it’s very important, and it’s very difficult to get the Foreign Office to pay attention to it, because they’re obsessed with the special relationship, and what we’re going to do about the European Union,” Soames said.
A freshman in the School of Foreign Service asked Lord Soames about the role of the UK and US in the Russia-Ukraine war. Soames feels that the West’s interests align with Ukraine’s.
“The Ukrainians have done unbelievably well, but don’t be under any delusions here: the Ukrainians are in a terrible position. And my God, that courage and bravery and everything else is just simply a wonder to behold, and fighting a battle which, even if you don’t agree with it, believe me, it’s a battle for all of us,” he said.
He continued by praising the Ukrainians and their President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as displaying the values of his grandfather.
“The Ukrainians will not surrender one inch of ground, not one inch, except by force. And the only language Putin understands, the only language he understands, is power,” he said. “President Trump believes that he can get the Russians and the Ukrainians to sit down and they’ll all hold hands and sit around the fire and sing kumbayah. A lot of this is going to depend on who wins the election here.”
Douglas Smith agreed. He added that President Trump’s promise to stop all shipment of arms to Ukraine would greatly impact the war effort.
“Ukraine is 100% dependent upon the generosity of NATO as a whole, and what we were doing to supply that. So it will be a scary and dangerous time. Neither one of us is weighing in on the politics of the coming election, only to say just sort of the facts that there will be two very different outcomes depending upon who is elected in the United States in November,” Smith said.
One student asked Soames if he felt that the United States even cared about the special relationship between the US and the UK anymore. He responded that the military and security relationship between the two countries remains strong, mentioning the numbers of bases the American Air Force has in Britain and the British Royal Navy office in the Pentagon, but that it is not the same relationship from World War II.
“Every American president receiving any visitor always starts his speech by saying, you’re very welcome here. You’re America’s closest friend. The special relationship does still exist. But it may not be as strong as it was,” he said.
Soames concluded the conversation by encouraging students to be nimble, smart, and objective in their studies. Smith agreed.
“My commercial to all of you is, as depressing as the news is, and how everybody yells at you, I implore all of you, have a career in public service. It is the greatest gift you can give back to any of your countries,” he said.
“I just say that there is no finer job that anyone can do than serve their country, and there are lots of different ways of doing it, with Foreign Service and the nature of foreign affairs,” Soames said. “So I wish you well in all of your studies, and I’m quite sure that you will learn a huge amount. It will enable you to go to wherever you want to go, and to fulfill all your dreams.”
