Rude or Not?

The reasons President Joe Biden will not attend the coronation of King Charles III in May are a bit of a hot topic in the U.S.

First Lady Jill Biden will be attending in his place, but as the U.S. is one of the U.K.’s closest allies, Biden’s absence from the ceremony is considered an “extraordinary insult.”

On the other hand, Biden will travel to Northern Ireland (a part of the U.K.) and Ireland on April 11. The visit commemorates the 25th anniversary of the Belfast Agreement of April 1998, which ended the conflict between Protestant citizens, who wanted the U.K. to continue ruling Northern Ireland, and Catholic citizens who opposed British rule.

Biden is Catholic, and his Irish ancestors immigrated to the U.S. in the mid-19th century to escape the Great Famine in Ireland. For that reason, many social media sites have speculated that Biden “[holds] a personal discomfort with the British monarchy.”

However, the reality is that since the U.S. gained independence in the 18th century, not one U.S. president has attended a coronation ceremony for the British monarchy. Last September, Biden was the first U.S. president to attend a U.K. state funeral after the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Accordingly, therefore, the view that Biden’s decision not to attend the coronation isn’t a snub makes sense. It is hard to judge diplomatic protocol since you can’t draw conclusions from outward appearances alone.