The United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom could not offer hope for a softening of the policy of barring Bermudian travellers with minor drug convictions — but Warren Stephens, on his first official visit to the island, said the afterglow from King Charles III’s visit to America spelt good times ahead in international relations.

“From my perspective, the visit could not have gone any better,” Mr Stephens told The Royal Gazette, fresh from the King’s warm reception in Washington.

“It will do nothing but help, with Bermuda as a British Overseas Territory.

“It’s helpful to the US-UK overall relationship and Bermuda will benefit. How specifically I couldn’t say, but it helps everything that the visit went so well, from both perspectives.”

Mr Stephens added: “It makes it pretty easy for me, and for all of us that work in the administration, to have President [Donald] Trump have genuine fondness for not only the King but the entire Royal Family. And it’s sincere.

“I know the King and the President are regularly in contact.”

Mr Stephens said the King’s remarks before the US Congress had been “as well received as anything I’ve seen in probably a decade, if not a couple of decades — his remarks at the state dinner were terrific”.

The Trump Administration’s hard line on immigration was never likely to indicate hope for Bermudians when it comes to the contentious “stop list” policy of barring travellers with even minor criminal records involving drugs.

Asked if there was any hope of an easing of the policy, even for decades-old convictions, Mr Stephens said: “We take US security very seriously. So we are scrutinising the backgrounds of people and looking at anything we can look at to determine if they should be allowed to visit the US.

“The Secretary of State has said visiting the US is not a right, it’s a privilege, and we get to determine who can come.

“As to your question about some change, I don’t know — I do not have any insight into that.”

Much has been made in the world media of the Trump Administration’s aspirations for the US sphere of influence outside its borders.

On the topic of a greater US security presence returning to Bermuda, where a significant US military base endured throughout the Cold War until 1995, Mr Stephens again emphasised his role as an ambassador.

However, he added: “Clearly, geopolitics has changed again.”

Mr Stephens said there had been “a race to disarm a good bit, not only the US but other countries as well” since the days of the US standoff with the Soviet Union.

“Now we’re in a situation where the world is rearming — let’s just say the West is rearming. What that will mean for Bermuda, specifically, I couldn’t say. But we are definitely — the US, Nato, the UK — all spending more on defence.”

He noted that the island’s longstanding role in the US space programme had been reaffirmed last month with the launch of the Artemis II mission to the Moon, with the spacecraft tracked from the island courtesy of Bermuda’s unique geographical location.

“On the map, Bermuda is a key place in our ability to track the launches,” he said. “The Nasa facility here in Bermuda has participated in everything from Mercury to, now, Artemis.”

As a high-profile businessman and investment banker, Mr Stephens spoke after a meeting with the island’s insurance and reinsurance executives.

He praised Bermuda’s industry as “essential to keeping our economy and the global economy functioning”, particularly in softening the market impact from catastrophic events.

“The fact that Bermuda is governed by British law and is stable is a rare combination,” he said.

“You’ve got strong regulation that’s also nimble — that’s a rare combination.”

Asked how the American public might view Bermuda’s offshore business and financial services, Mr Stephens emphasised that the island was not viewed as “a tax haven”.

“There are plenty of US states that have zero income tax,” he said, adding that the corporate income tax gave the island a “competitive advantage”.

“Everyone understands the need for governments to have tax receipts. I don’t think anybody really begrudges it, so long as the money is well spent.”

The brief stop before Mr Stephens and his wife, Harriet, head on for London gave the ambassador the opportunity to meet Andrew Murdoch, the Governor, and David Burt, the Premier, after arriving on Wednesday afternoon.

Mr Stephens also viewed the US Customs and Border Protection pre-clearance at LF Wade International Airport.

He said he had “no reason to expect there to be any change” in the island’s privileged arrangement, but added: “I’m not the one making that call.”

He said he had been particularly taken with his tour of historical sites in St George’s.

“I didn’t know a lot of the history of the island and I love history first of all,” he said.

Mr Stephens said the island’s role in the American Revolutionary War through the Gunpowder Plot of 1755, in which British powder was stolen at the East End and ferried to waiting American ships, had come as a great surprise.

“How could I never have heard of that?” he said. “I took a lot of US history — I never heard of that.”