Joe Biden’s position at Queen Elizabeth’s funeral in Westminster Abbey drew scathing comments from Donald Trump.
According to Trump’s “reading” through posts on Truth Sosial, Biden’s position shows that “there is no more respect” for the USA by “nailing” his successor that in this way he had the opportunity to meet “leaders of some Third-Party States world”.
“This has happened in the US in just two years. No respect. However, it was an opportunity for the President to meet the leaders of some Third World countries. If I were the president of the USA they would not put me back there and our country would be very different than it is now” were the posts of Donald Trump.
The protocol
Protocol dictates that, at the late Queen’s funeral, the governors-general of the realms that retain the monarch as head of state are seated first, followed by Commonwealth leaders, who outrank political leaders from the rest of the world, regardless of their importance. . And so it was that Biden found himself 14 runs out of the top spots and nine behind Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
The 79-year-old Democratic president sat down an aisle directly behind Polish leader Andriy Duda and a row ahead of Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala. Jill Biden, America’s First Lady, was flanked by Swiss President Ignacio Cassis, who sat to her left for the hour-long service.
Opposite the Bidens was the President of South Korea Yoon Suk-yeolwhile two rows further in the row was the French president Emmanuel Macron. In the same row as Biden, but on the other side of the aisle, sat the Chinese vice president Wang Qishan.
In contrast to the not-so-good seat of the American president, the seven living British prime ministers who attended the funeral sat prominently, along with their spouses. During her 70-year reign, Queen Elizabeth appointed 15 prime ministers, from Winston Churchill to Liz Truss.
The Duke of Norfolk was responsible for how the leaders of the countries would sit. The Catholic Edward Fitzallan Howard, 18th Duke of Norfolk, has been the Grand Master of all Crown events since 2002, when his father, Commander-in-Chief Miles Francis Fitzallan Howard, who held the title he inherited from his own father, died. In addition to the title of duke, he also carries the title of “Count Marshal”, as the exclusive organizer of royal events.
The Foreign Office – when asked what their input was on the seating plan – referred all calls to Buckingham Palace.
Typically, the US president is the last to arrive at any major event. Joe and Jill Biden arrived shortly after 10 a.m., an hour before the service was to begin, and instead of being shown straight to their seats, were made to wait to enter the abbey.
Biden was allowed to avoid the coaches carrying other world leaders and be driven to the abbey in the armored limousine that followed him to Britain especially for the occasion, while Macron was also allowed to arrive in his own car.
On the contrary, the Canadian Prime Minister, who asked to be transported in his own car, received a negative answer and thus entered the bus with the rest of the leaders.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier rode in a black BMW with the number plate GER 1, while Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese opted for a Jaguar. Italian President Sergio Mattarella rode in a Maserati with the number plate ITA 1.
In Westminster Abbey, foreign monarchs sat across from their British counterparts with Europe’s longest living monarch, Queen Margaret II of Denmark, sitting in the front row with King Charles III opposite her.
Jordan’s King Abdullah and his wife, Queen Rania, sat two rows ahead of the Gulf royals, who were not accompanied by their wives.
Also seated in the front seats were the King and Queen of Bhutan, who arrived with the Emperor and Empress of Japan in a royal coach.
Spain’s King Philip VI and Queen Letitia also traveled by bus. His father, Juan Carlos I, who abdicated in 2014 after a series of scandals, and his wife Sofia arrived separately at the cathedral. The members of the Spanish royal family were placed in the same pew.
It was King Philip’s first public appearance with his father since Juan Carlos decided to go into self-imposed exile and leave Spain in 2020 for Abu Dhabi.
At the end of Queen Elizabeth’s funeral, the heads of the Commonwealth of Nations were driven to Windsor and the more private ceremony at St George’s Chapel. The protocol again forbade Biden to attend and so the American president was returning to the USA, experiencing even for a day what it’s like to be in the background on the world stage.
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Tags: Queen Elizabeths funeral Biden seats
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