Newly released documents have revealed that in 1982, the Reagan White House took a long time to reply to a personal invitation from Queen Elizabeth II for President Reagan and his wife Nancy to stay with her at Windsor Castle during a planned visit to England.
Usually, a personal invitation from the queen would receive a prompt reply, but, according to the Associated Press, the invitation went unanswered for weeks.
"It is really for the president to respond to her invitation, which he has not done personally, something that I have pointed out several times here," writes Nicholas Henderson, Britain's ambassador to Washington, in a memo to the British Foreign Office. "As you know those surrounding the president are not deliberately rude: It is simply that they are not well-organized and do not have experience of this sort of thing."
Fortunately the misunderstanding was cleared up and the faux pas did not cause any lasting damage between the nations.
A former Reagan official today says Reagan's wife may have been to blame for the delay.
"You have to remember that Mrs. Reagan was very strict about his schedule, and she would consult her astrologer to see if this was the right time to travel," William F. Sittman, a special assistant to Reagan who was involved in planning the trip, told The Associated Press. "Sometimes she would back up departures."
Nearly 500 pages of formerly confidential papers relating to the Reagan visit were made public on Friday by Britain's National Archives.
The dossier is filled with everything from political matters, such as how to maximize Britain's influence on US policy, to slightly less important concerns, such as what gift to give the Reagans (a carriage clock) and what the president should wear to go horseback riding with the queen.
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.seanomelb | Dec 31, 2012, 08:12 PM EST
Maybe in England Scrivner,get real
Scrivner | Dec 31, 2012, 01:36 PM EST
So Irish Central is clucking over an Irish-American President not kow towing to a British Roayls? Amazing! I guess that if you scrape a socialist hard enough you wioll find a royalist inside.
curtisjohnson | Dec 30, 2012, 10:36 PM EST
She should count herself lucky the gipper responded.
cillowen | Dec 30, 2012, 06:37 PM EST
a divert story - that is a fair and balance ploy.
seanomelb | Dec 30, 2012, 05:06 PM EST
HE really believed he was the Gippa.It must have been written in the stars.
Searlit | Dec 30, 2012, 02:54 PM EST
Oh, don't get me started about Ronald Reagan. It was well known throughtout his administration that he & Nancy relied on Astrology, for bad or worse, to guide them in their decisions.
Joe Kelsall | Dec 30, 2012, 11:47 AM EST
'His wife would consult an astrologer'. Am I reading things right? This was the President of the USA being dictated to by his scatty wife, who was probably the cause of her son's congenital idiocy.Reagan was suffering from dementiamost of his life, except for the times when he was snitching on his mates to the Unamerican Activity fascists.
seanfer7 | Dec 30, 2012, 11:26 AM EST
Another imbeciles sleeping at Windsor might bring up past recollections
trconnors | Dec 30, 2012, 11:00 AM EST
his wife was his puppeteer. He was a B actor and a B president at best, although he was a good, trained speaker. Not enough for the hannitys and limpbaugh to drool over though. I am sure he was a good man but Pres.? I dont think so
madpadd | Dec 30, 2012, 09:53 AM EST
Of course it took a long time to reply. Someone said he might have to sleep with her.