You may have noticed that Barack Obama came to the country on a state visit this
week. But he wasn’t the first US President to be extended an invitation from the Queen, oh no. George W. Bush beat him to that particular honour in 2003. Here are a couple of Spectator pieces from
the time, the first the magazine’s leader column, the second by Peter Oborne:
Don’t burn Bush, The Spectator, 15 November 2003
The Queen’s state carriage has carried some pretty rum types over the years. Nicolae Ceauscescu took a break from murdering his countrymen to take a ride down the Mall in June 1978. In 1994 it was Robert Mugabe’s privilege and in 1979 Kenya’s President Daniel arap Moi – at a time when Moi’s corrupt administration was bleeding his country of £00 million a year. Emperor Hirohito didn’t even need to apologise for the second world war in order to be granted a place in the Queen’s carriage in 1971.
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