Have British prime ministers attended U.S. presidential inaugurations on four occasions in the past 100 years? No, that's not true: A presidential historian told Lead Stories that no prime ministers from the U.K. attended a U.S. inauguration in the 20th century. Official records from the Department of State, Office of the Historian do not include any leaders from the United Kingdom attending a U.S. inauguration.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on X on January 14, 2025. It said:
1941, 1961, 1973 and 2001. Thanks for playing.
This is what the post looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Wed Jan 15 17:29:57 2024 UTC)
British TV talk host Mike Graham was doubling down on his claim that it was a "stain on British history" that Prime Minister Keir Starmer was not attending Trump's January 20, 2025, inauguration, as he said on air in a video posted on X (archived here). In that newscast he said: "Next Monday, when Donald Trump is inaugurated as the 47th President of America, I consider it a massive stain on British history that our prime minister will not be there."
Keir Starmer has not been invited to the inauguration of Donald Trump in a major snub.
-- Talk (@TalkTV) January 14, 2025
Mike Graham: 'You can't mess around in politics and pretend you're in a student union... A massive stain on British history that our Prime Minister won't be there!'@Iromg pic.twitter.com/QrwlYdwuGW
Thomas Balcerski, a presidential historian at Eastern Connecticut State University (archived here), refuted the claim to Lead Stories via email on January 15, 2025 (archived here):
Tony Blair did not attend George W. Bush's inauguration, for certain. Winston Churchill was not in Washington in January 1941 per the NPS.
According to the Department of State, Office of the Historian website (archived here) list of "Visits By Foreign Leaders of United Kingdom," there are no prime ministers who attended a U.S. inauguration from 1929 to present day. The list of leaders and the dates of their visits do not coincide with the January 20 inauguration dates for the four years listed in the social media post, according to History in Pieces (archived here). That website is by David Coleman, associate professor of history at the University of Virginia.
Here is a breakdown of the dates the foreign leaders visited the United States in the four years mentioned in the post:
1941 - Franklin D. Roosevelt January 20, 1941
No visits from a U.K. leader
1961 - John F. Kennedy January 20, 1961
Prime Minister Harold Macmillan: Meeting at Key West (Florida); discussed situation in Laos March 26, 1961
Prime Minister Macmillan: Informal visit. Arrived in New York City April 3. April 4-9, 19611973 - Richard M. Nixon January 20, 1973
Prime Minister Edward R.G. Heath: Official visit. February 1-2, 1973
2001 - George W. Bush January 20, 2001
Prime Minister Tony Blair: Working visit at Camp David, MD. February 22-24, 2001
Prime Minister Blair: Working visit. September 20, 2001
Prime Minister Blair: Working visit. November 7, 2001
Balcerski explained the traditional schedule for visits by leaders from the United States and Great Britain, which have historically been the first to visit and be visited by the president:
Heads of state, when they come to the United States, are typically accorded the fullest sort of recognition and honors, and it produces what is a famous thing, the state dinner, joint press conferences. It's a chance for the United States to host a country and yes, Great Britain and Canada are typically the first two. And also, I should say, typically the first visit of a United States president on foreign soil has been Canada. That has been one thing. But the first visit of a state dignitary has been Great Britain. So, the special relationship lately, at least, has been the Prime Minister of Great Britain visiting the president.
Lead Stories published a similar fact check on the claim that the absence of Starmer from Donald Trump's presidential inauguration would be unusual. In that story Balcerski detailed that there were no prime ministers from the U.K. in two centuries at the U.S. inauguration:
And certainly, going back as far as I've been able to find... in my own research, none in the 21st century, none in the 20th century. And perhaps some of the foreign ministers would have attended the inaugurations of the 19th century presidents, but in the sense that anyone can attend the inauguration, they did on behalf of their governments, but no, never, never has a head of state.
Other Lead Stories fact checks on claims regarding the presidential inauguration can be found here and fact checks on claims about Donald Trump can be found here.
