Jill Biden to lead U.S. delegation to King Charles III's coronation

2023-04-07

EXCLUSIVE: President Biden calls King Charles to confirm he will NOT be attending his coronation – and first lady Jill will be going in his place

Coronation will take place May 6th at Westminister Abbey
President Joe Biden called Britain’s King Charles III on Tuesday
Biden confirmed the first lady would lead the U.S. delegation

Jill Biden will lead the U.S. delegation to King Charles III’s coronation, representing America at the investiture of the new British monarch instead of President Joe Biden, who will not attend.

President Biden called King Charles on Tuesday to say the first lady would be going on his behalf, a source familiar told DailyMail.com.

She will attend the May 6th ceremony at Westminster Abbey in London, where coronations have taken place for nearly 1,000 years.

The first lady will take the lead for the Biden administration at the historic event amid concerns some might see the president’s absence as a snub. Questions have been raised about Joe Biden’s commitment to the ‘special relationship’ with Britain given his professed love for Ireland.

First Lady Jill Biden will lead the U.S. delegation to King Charles III’s coronation representing the U.S. at the historic event

Both American and British officials have said the relationship between the two nations remains strong and essential. And they point out that presidents typically don’t attend coronations.

But the timing of the event is sensitive. The coronation takes place shortly after Biden’s expected trip to Northern Ireland and the Republic, where he will celebrate the Good Friday Agreement but is not expected to sit down with the king.

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.

King Charles III coronation will take place on May 6th

President Biden called King Charles on Tuesday to say Jill Biden would attend the coronation – above the first couple in Mississippi on Friday

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

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.

It’s unclear if Biden will meet with Sunak or other British political officials during his Ireland trip.

But 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.

There’s precedent for the President of the United States not to attend a royal coronation, however.

For example, President Eisenhower did not attend Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation. Instead, the U.S. delegation included Earl Warren, then the governor of California; George Marshall, former secretary of State; and Omar Bradley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

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 met with Charles, then-Prince of Wales, in November 2021 at the COP26 summit in Scotland

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 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.

Source: Read Full Article