Biden to visit Ireland instead of attending Coronation, US hints
JOE BIDEN’S attendance at the Coronation was thrown into doubt last night as White House officials said they still did not know if he would attend.
After one official suggested that it was “unlikely” Mr Biden would be there, another senior administration official said the United States would be “represented”.
But they could not yet say if Mr Biden would go personally, or send a delegation.
The US would be “represented at the Coronation” but there were no details to share on “presidential travel,” or about a “potential delegation at this time”.
Behind the scenes, Mr Biden is believed to be facing a dilemma over whether to attend the Coronation on May 6, with several factors indicating he may not.
He is understood to be keen to make a visit to Ireland in April to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, and that looks increasingly probable.
Planning for the trip has advanced in the wake of the Windsor Framework deal.
US officials have already travelled to Ireland to prepare the way for the potential visit, with a date of April 18 reportedly in mind. It would make a second visit across the Atlantic weeks later for the Coronation less likely.
Mr Biden is proud of his Irish heritage and the latest indications are that he could make an extended Ireland trip, taking in Dublin, Belfast, and seeing relatives in Mayo and Louth.
Potentially, he could meet the King at an event related to the Good Friday Agreement.
The Coronation could also clash with Mr Biden’s timeline for announcing his 2024 re-election campaign.
The announcement, expected in the coming weeks or months, is reportedly set to trigger a series of high-profile
‘The Coronation does not feel like an event that the president Joe Biden will attend’
domestic campaign appearances. White House officials will also have noted the precedent that the previous coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 was not attended by Dwight Eisenhower, the incumbent president.
He sent a delegation instead, which did not at the time appear to have been regarded as a snub in the UK.
One White House official told Time magazine: “That [the Coronation] does not feel like an event Joe Biden will attend.”
Invitations are expected to be sent out in April, by which time Mr Biden may already have formalised the trip to Ireland.
The Ireland anniversary visit has long been a high priority for the White House.
In November, a source told The Sunday Telegraph that the US was putting pressure on the UK and EU to get the Brexit deal on Northern Ireland done by April, paving the way for a visit.
One potential option would be for Mr Biden to delay the Ireland visit until May and combine it with the Coronation.
Mr Biden once described himself as “Irish” in a jokey exchange with the BBC that went viral after he was elected in late 2020.
“Mr Biden, a quick word for the BBC,” the British broadcaster’s New York correspondent asks in the undated clip.
“The BBC?” he replied with a smile. “I’m Irish.”
He has previously told how his mother instructed him not to bow to Queen Elizabeth II when he first met her in the 1980s.
However, Mr Biden subsequently spoke of his fondness for the late monarch, telling how she “charmed us with her wit, moved us with her kindness, and generously shared with us her wisdom.”
He has previously vowed to “continue a close friendship with King Charles and his wife, the Queen Consort.”