All eyes internationally were on London yesterday. Britain had crowned a new monarch for the first time in 71 years. The guest list was correspondingly prominent. Countless heads of state proved to King Charles III. the honor of your visit. However, one important ally of Great Britain was missing: US President Joe Biden had canceled. Just like its predecessors.
Because Biden is continuing a long tradition. In fact, no sitting US President has ever attended the coronation of an English king. At the last coronation, that of Charles’ mother Elizabeth in 1952, Biden’s predecessor, Dwight D. Eisenhower, was also invited. And, like Biden, had decided against it. In his stead he sent a delegation to England. And followed the live broadcast of the celebrations in the White House on the television.
He had already announced a month ago that Biden would not come. In a personal phone call, he had informed Charles that he did not want to come to the celebrations. When his wife Dr. Jill Biden then expressed interest, he left the invitation to her and their granddaughter Finnegan Biden.
“This is not to be taken as a rebuff,” emphasized Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House spokeswoman back in April. Biden also tried to emphasize the “strength of the relationship between the two countries and the friendship between their inhabitants” in conversation with the king. And expressly looking forward to a later meeting of the two heads of state in the future.
Even if the relationship between the two countries is very close today, earlier refusals may well have been a political gesture. Breaking away from the rule of the British royal family, which was perceived as a tyrannical yoke, was ultimately the most important reason for the bloody struggle for independence in the USA. Then celebrating the next king would have been unthinkable in the younger years of the republic. Last year at the latest, it became clear that these times are over: Joe Biden also traveled personally to the funeral of Queen Elizabeth.
Meanwhile, a former US President claimed he accepted the invitation: “I think it’s very disrespectful that he’s not going there,” Donald Trump said in a conversation with British politician Nigel Farage last week. And topped it off. “If you’d rather go to sleep than attend a coronation as US President, that’s a very bad thing,” he added, referring to the derogatory nickname “Sleepy Joe” he likes to give to Biden.
A former subordinate of Trump sees things differently. “I think it’s great that the First Lady is representing us internationally,” Lindsay Reynolds told CBS. She had worked as chief of staff for then First Lady Melania Trump. Now she clearly contradicts her husband. “I don’t see any affront in the fact that the president doesn’t come himself.”
Sources: CBS, Time, Washington Post
