Former President Donald Trump was reportedly surprised that he did not receive a personal invitation to the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, according to New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman.
President Joe Biden will attend the burial later this week, and anchor John Berman questioned Haberman on CNN on Tuesday morning about Trump’s response to not being invited.
“Trump and people around Trump believe he had some sort of special connection to the queen,” she replied. “There’s, for some reason, some expectation around people close to Trump that he should be getting an invitation. He fancied himself as having some kind of close relationship with her. A former aide to Trump told me, ‘No, the queen really liked him.'”
Haberman, who met Trump when the former president visited the UK in 2019, claimed she had heard of no clear evidence that the late queen liked him.
“I have no reason to believe, from anything I have ever heard or read, that the queen felt as if she had some special connection to Donald Trump,” she explained.
The importance of Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral to the entire globe will be made abundantly plain on that day as foreign leaders arrive in the UK to pay their respects to the late monarch.
Several prominent individuals from throughout the world have been invited to the event at Westminster Abbey in London on September 19; among them are U.S. President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden.
If former President Donald Trump would receive an invitation had been the subject of some speculation.
Trump has shown his admiration for the queen in public.
“Melania and I will always cherish our time together with the Queen, and never forget Her Majesty’s generous friendship, great wisdom, and wonderful sense of humor,” the former president wrote in one of the condolence messages he delivered via his Truth Social app.
Although there may have been warm feelings, it doesn’t seem like the former president will go to the funeral of the queen in London—at least not in a manner that involves the United States.
On September 12, 2022, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre responded to inquiries while on Air Force One and said the White House had only received an invitation for President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden.
“So, the invitation for the president and the first lady came in the form of a note sent by the protocol directorate of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office,” Jean-Pierre said.
“It was received late Saturday night and as you all know the president accepted the invitation on Sunday morning and, [in] so far as invites, I would refer you to the United Kingdom, their government, on that protocol generally.
“The invitation… extended to the U.S. government was for the president and the first lady only.”Jean-Pierre responded, “this is a decision that is made for the U.K. government, they decide who gets invited,”
“Again, the invite was for the president and first lady only. It is for them to move to decide on how they are going to proceed on invites, and they have,” she said.
