President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle have not been invited to Prince William and Kate Middleton’s royal wedding. The Queen personally invited 40 heads of state, who received the gold-embossed invitations over the weekend to the April 29 wedding of the future king. The Obamas, however, were not among them.
But they can take solace in the knowledge that they will be the guests of their very own state visit to the UK in May. There have been suggestions that the state visit – the first for a US President since 2003 – was set up in return for Obama not coming to the wedding because of the added security costs involved with protecting the President.
French Prime Minister Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni will also miss out and Prince Andrew’s former wife, Sarah Ferguson – the Duchess of York – has also been snubbed. Leaders from Commonwealth counties, including Australia, Canada and New Zealand have been invited along with Kings and Queens across Europe, including Spain, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Greece.
The couple will hope the meet-and-greet will help prepare them for their first official overseas visit as a married couple to Canada in June. Other guests include the King of Jordan, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, the Sultan of Oman, the King of Bahrain, the Sultan of Brunei and the King of Saudi Arabia, the Emperor of Japan, the King of Malaysia, the King of Tonga and the King of Thailand. Around 1,900 guests will attend the Westminster Abbey ceremony, which will be beamed around the world, and the bride and groom have been allowed to invite more than, 1,000 of their friends.
The invitations, which were posted last week, are on thick white card, bevelled, gilded and stamped with EIIR in gold which has then been burnished.
Har! Apparently this is old news. Still humorous however. The Obama’s will be attending the space shuttle launch instead.
# 84 olodos said, “AMERICANS!! you are so uneducated and blinded by hate to understand that NO HEAD OF STATE”
Olodos, hush yo mouth! You show your own ignorance by accusing us. Heads of state, other than the Commonwealth, ARE being invited. The king of Bahrain is invited. Is Bahrain in the Commonwealth? The king of Thailand is invited. Is Thailand in the Commonwealth? For god’s sake: QADDAFI was invited though I understand they’ve withdrawn the invite. Just family and close (oil supplying) friends.
But you are right about one thing: many of the posts above are ignoring the fact that most heads of state are not being invited. I don’t believe it’s because they don’t know the truth but because it’s more fun to pretend otherwise.
You, on the other hand, are just ignorant of the facts.
I’ve been reading your responses, I’m a Brit, and to be honest, at least half the population of UK probably more(myself included) don’t care about this wedding, or who the hell goes to it. Its just a wedding, I didnt get invited to a friends wedding who I knew for years, but didnt give a shit cuz I was going out that day anyway.
It just isnt important.
Oh by the way, I forgot to say hi to our allies across the pond”. Our two great nations have been steadfast friends for a long time and I don’t ever see a time where that will change.
No friendship is without tiny arguments, the metaphor works between nations too.
Strong friendships are hard to break.
I wouldn’t want the ghetto at my wedding either.
U ignorant bigots leave the president alone. They were not invited coz they would get all the attention up staging the pale pair of royal…..
I think there are more reasons why the Obamas didn’t get the wedding invitation. I would like to hear your opinion on this.
First, I think it is because the Queen Elizabeth got shocked and upset when Michelle Obama hugged her. It is a breach of a strict protocol known for centuries that the Queen cannot be touched/hugged by anybody. Not even by family members unless the Queen makes the first move. When Michelle Obama did it the Queen got upset (you can see it on video). Unfortunately, Michelle was not either aware of it or just forgot about it. Far back in the past when someone touched the Queen was beheaded, even if it was someone with a royal blood. Not that I am in favor of this protocol, it’s just what it is. So the Queen pays it back this way.
Second, it is because the Queen didn’t want the media to focus on the Obamas.
Third, it is because extra special security procedures would have to take place, which would be very costly and also the security procedures could affect the “beauty” of the wedding event.
I’m a British visitor to this site and I have to say I’m surprised at the general level of animosity there is towards your President here. Your President is shown in quite a positive light over here which, in turn, reflects well on your country as a whole. Unfortunately, I believe, Mr Bush did a lot if harm overseas to your country, he was often ridiculed in our press for his speeches and mannerisms. The British people saw him as a war hungry fool who did not care for the needy in his own country. I appreciate that this may not actually be the case but we can only base our judgment on a balance of the output from our media. Whereas your current President is seen over here as more caring and in tune with his people, and less gung-ho. I’ve visited other blogs etc and the comments posted were surprising to say the least. I was very surprised to see Bush re-elected but it wouldn’t had surprised me with Obama , until now. It’s funny how we see ourselves as a nation and how others perceive us and our Leaders to be.
well well well…. what kind of royal family and where r there dignity and moral, was prince william was not in position to find a virgin princess for him? rather selecting a ordinary girl who already laid with 2 of her boy friends. dont u people think that royal family deserve a virgin princess. i think its kinda big shame for them. royal princess banged by other people before marriage, i cannot belive royals can be so cheap to accept such princess.
woulda been boring, he probely had better things to do.