There was a lot of discourse around President Joe Biden turning down King Charles III’s invitation to the coronation. Even though a U.S. president has never attended a coronation, some critics felt like this was a snub against the royal family. First Lady Dr. Jill Biden and her granddaughter, Finnegan, went instead, but now, Twitter is calling foul on their less-than-ideal seating placement.
Users of the social media platform are frustrated that coronation organizers wanted world leaders there, but when they got the first lady instead, they feel like King Charles didn’t treat her with the respect she deserves. And boy, did they have some thoughts.
The thread that started it all was a screen grab of Jill and Finnegan struggling to see the events unfolding before them. It looked like they had a better view of the heads than of King Charles’ big moment. “Insulting”, wrote the account.
Other Twitter users jumped in with their thoughts as well, with one adding, “She should’ve stayed home. Why waste time and money for this hot mess only to sit somewhere in the back corner?” Another added, “Who puts Dr. Jill in the back row?” And of course, some thought the first lady should have taken a page from Prince Harry, noting, “She should leave at the same time as Harry. Share a cab to the airport and go home!” There were dozens and dozens of comments, but some are too spicy to even print — the bottom line, though? — is no one puts Dr. Jill in the corner!
The disappointing seating arrangement for the first lady and her granddaughter didn’t deter them from participating in plenty of coronation activities over their three-day trip. And the good news is that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his wife, Akshata Murty, welcomed Jill with open arms at events on both Friday and Sunday, so at least someone appreciated her visit.