Bill Clinton Rejected The Queen Invite To Palace To Dine With PM Instead

Newly declassified documents have revealed that former President Bill Clinton did something no one does.. he turned down the Queen of England herself. You won't believe what he chose to do instead of having tea and Buckingham Palace with royalty!

The Guardian has just reported what was found on the declassified documents. The sitting US President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary Clinton were to be in London for a short time after visiting The Hague for the NATO summit. Bill and Her Majesty the Queen had previously met a number of times when she invited him to visit her while he was in London.

At the time, he was visiting London to spend time with the recently elected Prime Minister Tony Blair. According to a Downing Street memo, Buckingham Palace sent notice to Blair's staff stating "The Palace have been in touch with us to say that HM The Queen would be very pleased to invite the President (with or without the Prime Minister) and/or Mrs Clinton to tea next Thursday" for tea. 

But instead, Bill chose to spend his time vastly differently...

In the response to Buckingham Palace, it was revealed that Bill instead, "said that he wants to be a tourist" and "expressed an interest in trying Indian food." So with this in mind, he and Hillary chose to "decline politely" the request made by Her Majesty. It was noted that "the Americans had no clear idea" about what they wanted to do instead of joining Her Majesty at Buckingham Palace.

Oddly enough, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Cherie Blair, and Tony Blair all decided to dine at a French restaurant instead.

While the Clinton's expressed they were "very grateful for HM the Queen's invitation" they still chose to spend time with the Blairs instead. Apparently, this was against the advisement of US officials who acknowledged this would be taken as a "discourtesy" to the royal family.

10 Downing Street intended to make the Clintons short stay as memorable as possible in hopes of "establishing a good working relationship between the UK's new government and the White House." The Blairs and the Clintons did in fact get along swimmingly and spent quite a bit of time together over the following years. 

Many noted this was a strange decision to make but Bill Clinton and Tony Blair remained close friends all these years later so the bit of "fun" they had during his short stay solidified that friendship.

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