White House insists Biden is NOT snubbing King Charles by skipping his coronation and has accepted an invite for a state visit: Defends missing crowning because Eisenhower – the last president invited – didn’t go
- ‘This is not a snub,’ Karine Jean Pierre told DailyMail.com
- King Charles invited Biden to make a state visit and president accepted
- The two men spoke for about 30 minutes on Tuesday
The White House on Wednesday insisted President Joe Biden was not snubbing King Charles III by skipping his coronation and sending first lady Jill Biden in his place.
‘This is not a snub. The president has a good relationship with the king,’ White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in response to a question from DailyMail.com.
She noted the president and the monarch spoke for about 30 minutes on Tuesday and that Charles invited Biden to make a state visit to the United Kingdom. DailyMail.com exclusively reported the call took place and the president informed the king he was sending his wife to the historic event instead of making the trip himself.
‘During that call the King offered for him to come and do a state visit, which the President accepted and so they will see each other again very soon,’ Jean-Pierre said.
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden met briefing with King Charles when he held a reception for world leaders at Buckingham Palace after Queen Elizabeth’s funeral
She did not have a date for that visit and wouldn’t say whether Biden will sit down with the king when he’s in the United Kingdom later this month, celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement during a stop in Belfast.
Jean-Pierre emphasized multiple times the two leaders have a good relationship, pointing to their shared interest in climate issues.
Both American and British officials pointed out that no American president has attended a coronation. President Dwight Eisenhower did not attend Queen Elizabeth’s but that took place in 1953 when overseas travel was much more difficult and time consuming. Biden, with his private 747, could make it London in a day and back.
The first lady will lead the US delegation to the May 6th coronation.
‘The US will be well represented by the First Lady and we’re proud that she’s going to be representing the United States at the at the coronation,’ National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters Wednesday.
‘There is a precedent here for the President not to go and President Eisenhower didn’t attend Queen Elizabeth’s coronation either. The call yesterday was very cordial between the king and the president. And the king is was very gracious and grateful about the First Lady’s attendance,’ he added
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said President Biden was not snubbing the British by not attending King Charles’ coronation
American and British officials point out President Dwight Eisenhower didn’t attend Queen Elizabeth’s coronation but that took place in 1953 when travel overseas was much more complicated and time consuming
The timing of the event is sensitive.
The coronation takes place shortly after Biden’s trip to Northern Ireland and the Republic. He’ll be in Belfast, Northern Ireland from April 11-12 and will travel to the Republic of Ireland from April 12-14
The president is proud of his Irish roots and speaks of them often. He is not afraid to voice his opinion on Irish affairs and was vocal in his support for protecting the Good Friday agreement as Britain negotiated Brexit trade rules with the European Union.
The administration insisted that London respect the Northern Ireland Protocol, an agreement with the European Union that draws a customs border in the Irish Sea between mainland Britain and Northern Ireland.
British loyalists complained that protocol brings Northern Ireland closer to the neighboring Republic of Ireland. There are Protestant suspicions that the Catholic Biden favors a united Ireland, but the president has not publicly voiced support for such a move.
The White House has not announced Biden’s trip to Ireland but British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak formally invited the president to come when he met with him in San Diego last month. Biden accepted.
Sunak helped negotiate the Windsor Framework, which resolved the trade dispute and helped pave the way for Biden’s visit to Northern Ireland and the republic.
President Joe Biden often talks about his Irish roots – above he accepts a bouquet of Shamrocks from Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar on St. Patrick’s Day
President Joe Biden met with Charles, then-Prince of Wales, in November 2021 at the COP26 summit in Scotland
During his Ireland trip, Biden will mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, which ended 30 years of sectarian violence between pro-Ireland Catholics and pro-Britain Protestants.
He’s also expected to visit family members – his distance cousins the Finnegans – who live in Counties Louth and Mayo.
But the president’s time there is expected to be ahead of a formal, official celebration of the Good Friday Agreement that will feature King Charles, Sunak, former president Bill Clinton and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton. Then-President Bill Clinton helped negotiate the agreement.
Biden hasn’t met with King Charles since he ascended the throne and is not expected to meet with him while in Ireland.
Biden, however, has met with Charles when he was Prince of Wales.
The two men held a one-on-one meeting at the COP26 climate summit in Scotland in October 2021. Both care about environmental issues.
Charles, as king, is above politics, but he is a head of state and plays an important role in the special, essential relationship the United States and the United Kingdom share.
But several heads of state, including those of France, Spain, Ireland, Japan and Monaco, will be on hand to see Charles crowned.
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden met with Queen Elizabeth at the G7 summit in Cornwall in 2021
Jill Biden and Joe Biden attended Queen Elizabeth’s funeral in September 2022
Prince William and Princess Catherine are expected to play a major role and their three children – George, Charlotte and Louis – are expected to attend at least parts of the lavish coronation ceremony.
It remains unclear if Harry and Meghan will attend amid tense relations with the royal family.
But Charles is planning a scaled-back ceremony for his formal ascension to the throne, cutting thousands from the question list compared to the nearly 8,000 that attended his mother’s coronation in 1953.
The Archbishop of Canterbury will conduct the ceremony, crowning both King Charles the Queen consort, Camilla.
It is expected to last about hour compared to Queen Elizabeth II’s, which lasted nearly three hours.
Still, England will get a three-day holiday weekend and there will be multiple public celebrations, including parades, street parties and picnics, to mark the occasion.
Charles officially became king on the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth II in September last year.
Both Bidens attended the Queen’s funeral. During that time, they had a brief meeting with Charles during a reception for world leaders at Buckingham Palace.
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