The name of Romania’s late Communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu was recently brought up in a dispute over U.S. President Donald Trump’s state visit to the UK.

More than 1.6 million people have signed a petition asking the UK Government to call off Donald Trump’s visit to the UK, which is more than enough for the petition to be debated in the British Parliament.

According to the online petition, Trump should be allowed to enter UK in his capacity as head of the U.S. Government, but he shouldn’t be invited to make an official state visit because it could “cause embarrassment to Her Majesty the Queen.”

“Donald Trump's well documented misogyny and vulgarity disqualifies him from being received by Her Majesty the Queen or the Prince of Wales. Therefore during the term of his presidency Donald Trump should not be invited to the United Kingdom for an official state visit,” reads the petition’s presentation.

Boris Johnson, Secretary of State for Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs, spoke in the House of Commons on Monday, saying that the British Government shouldn’t revoke the invitation to Donald Trump, adding that both Romania’s late Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe visited the UK and met the Queen in the past.

“To the best of my knowledge, both Nicolae Ceausescu and Robert Mugabe have been entertained by Her Majesty the Queen, and I think most members of the House would concede that it is our duty and the right thing to do to put in preparations now for receiving our friend, our partner, and the leader of the oldest, great democracy and the most important ally we have,” he said, reports Independent.co.uk.

Nicolae Ceausescu paid a state visit to the UK in 1978, during which he and his wife Elena Ceausescu met Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh (opening picture). In a 2011 article, Daily Mail wrote that, during that visit, the Queen took drastic steps to avoid meeting the Romanian leader any more than necessary.

Discover Bucharest: Primaverii Palace, the private residence of late dictator Nicolae Ceausescu

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Wikipedia)