- Joe and Jill Biden will not bring a US delegation to the Queen’s funeral, CNN reported.
- It means that the possibility of Biden inviting former presidents, like Trump, has been closed.
- A spokesman for Trump did not immediately confirm whether he had been invited.
President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden received individual invitations to the Queen’s funeral, unexpectedly closing a potential avenue for former President Donald Trump to attend.
England’s Queen Elizabeth II died Thursday afternoon local time after 70 years on the British throne. A state funeral is planned. for September 19.
But in the middle of preparationsthe Bidens have received two personal invitations, rather than being asked to form an American delegation, according to CNNwhich quoted anonymous White House officials.
Amid the general expectation that the White House would be invited to form a delegation, there have been talk weighing whether Biden would engage Trump. The representative for the 45th president did not immediately respond to Insider’s query.
Trump, who met the Queen in 2018 and 2019, declared that he was very fond of her. and issued an effusive statement shortly after her death, he called her a “great and beautiful lady”.
“There was no one like her!” he wrote.
However, it has never been entirely clear whether that affection was reciprocated. Trump’s visits to the UK they were marred by mass protests and moments where he broke protocol, even keeping her waiting for around 10 minutes.
One wild internet theory even speculated that the Queen, who never publicly disclosed her political feelings, was sending a subtle anti-Trump message through your choice of brooch.
Countries often invite leaders to form delegations for major funerals, leaving it open to the sitting president to compile his own list of dignitaries, such as former presidents, which can reflect a politically bipartisan range of invitees.
In 2008, then-President Barack Obama led a delegation to Nelson Mandela’s state funeral that included former President George W. Bush and the senator. ted Cruz, as The Guardian reported at the time.
Vice President Kamala Harris will lead a US delegation to the planned funeral of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in September. the white house confirmed on September 7.
At one of the UK’s largest royal funerals, that of the Queen Mother, then first lady Laura Bush led a US delegation which included two former ambassadors.
Biden formally accepted the invitation to the Queen’s funeral on Sunday. as reported by the Associated Press (AP).
