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  • 2017-06-10 (xsd:date)
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  • Did Queen Elizabeth Refuse to Retract an Invitation to President Donald Trump? (en)
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  • On 7 June 2017, the Patriot Beacon reported that Queen Elizabeth II had publicly contradicted London mayor Sadiq Khan by refusing to retract an offer of an official state visit to President Donald Trump after Khan had suggested calling it off: A spokesperson for Buckingham Palace confirmed to us that a formal invitation to visit the UK had not been extended to Donald Trump by Britain's royal family; Sean Spicer appears to be mistaken in referring to Her Majesty's gracious invitation. Queen Elizabeth has not refused to retract her invitation, because she never formally extended one. Nor has she made a public statement on the matter, either before or after Sadiq Khan called for Trump's official visit to be cancelled. The Queen never intervenes in political disputes in any case, and her silence in the two days following Khan's remarks is entirely in keeping with normal practice and should not be interpreted as meaningful in any way. In January 2017, UK Prime Minister Theresa May did extend an invitation to the US President to visit, but it's unclear whether this will be a state visit or official visit. In the UK, a state visit is one where the head of state (Queen Elizabeth) formally hosts a foreign dignitary (in this case, Donald Trump). An official visit means the foreign dignitary is invited to visit the UK, but is not formally hosted by the Queen. The episode has proven controversial, with one experienced former diplomat, Peter Ricketts, writing at the time that May's invitation had put the Queen in a very difficult position. In an interview with Channel 4 News on 5 June 2017, London's mayor was asked if he thought Trump's state visit should be called off: Apart from the fact that the Queen has not refused to retract her invitation to Trump (because she has not extended such an invitation), there are a couple of other inaccuracies in the Patriot Beacon article. For example, it cites the conservative web site Breitbart as reporting that the Queen refused to retract her invitation for Trump to meet with her at Buckingham Palace. The 6 June 2017 article does not say that; instead, it simply quotes White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer's response to a question on Sadiq Khan's call for a cancellation: The Breitbart article also does not describe Queen Elizabeth as refusing to retract her invitation or taking any action (or conspicuous inaction) following Sadiq Khan's remarks the day before. The Patriot Beacon article claims that Khan had called for Trump's visit to be cancelled on the basis of Trump's alarmist response to the London Bridge attack. Khan never described Trump's response as alarmist, but said instead that his call for the visit to be cancelled was because Trump's policies go against everything we stand for. Khan had already opposed an official visit by Trump to the UK in response to the US President's proposed immigration ban, and long before the June 2017 terrorist attack. In an op-ed for the London Evening Standard on 30 January 2017, the mayor wrote: (en)
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