A top British government official has lifted the lid on a state banquet Queen Elizabeth II held for former President Barack Obama’s official UK visit in 2011.
According to George Osborne, the UK’s former chancellor of the exchequer, the Queen asked him to boot Obama from the banquet because she was tired and wanted to go to bed.
Osborne told the audience at a talk hosted by the Old Pauline Club: “I was at a banquet, the state banquet in Britain for Barack Obama.
“And the Queen came up to me and said: ‘Will you tell the president it’s late and I want to go to bed.’
“And I looked over at… Barack Obama was having a great time, kind of knocking back vodka martinis with his mates, and I was like, ‘Oh, my god, I’m going to be the person that has to go and tell him to go home.’”
From Yahoo:
Obama visited the UK in May 2011. He and first lady Michelle Obama were the guests of honor at a state banquet held in Buckingham Palace. Osborne was the chancellor at the time.
Obama also visited the UK again in 2011 and 2016, but neither were state visits and no banquets were held.
Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama attended a state banquet as guests of honor at Buckingham Palace in 2011.
The night also saw a blunder from the former president when he began his toast with “To Her Majesty, the queen,” which signaled the band to begin playing the national anthem, “God Save the Queen.” He gave the rest of his speech drowned out by the band.
George Osborne, a former chancellor, said the queen asked him during a state banquet in 2011 to tell Obama to leave because she wanted to go to sleep.
"The queen came up to me and said, 'Will you tell the president it's late and I want to go to bed?'"https://t.co/8EkdFdqpwd
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) December 1, 2021
Bit of an unusual exclusive from me: at the 2011 state banquet, the Queen asked George Osborne to tell Obama it was late and she wanted to go to bed.
"I was like, 'oh my god, I'm going to be the person that has to go and tell him to go home.'"https://t.co/0Dmmb8ilx9
— Henry Dyer (@Direthoughts) December 1, 2021
