PARIS — While Britons fumed over a perceived French snub of their queen, the French responded Thursday to the latest cross-Channel spat with a shrug.
France failed to invite Queen Elizabeth II, left, to Normandy for next week’s 65th anniversary of the Allied landings on D-Day, where President Barack Obama is being given the starring role. The diplomatic faux pas prompted an uproar in Britain, which lost thousands of soldiers at Normandy and across France while helping free the country from the Nazis.
French officials backpedaled Wednesday and said she was welcome to come — but to no avail. Buckingham Palace said Thursday that no member of the royal family will attend the ceremonies. Prime Minister Gordon Brown will be there.
“I don’t get it, personally,” said Guy Briand, browsing the morning papers just off the Champs-Elysees in the shadow of a memorial statue of Sir Winston Churchill, Britain’s pugnacious prime minister during World War II.
“If she comes or not, it’s her problem.”
