The congressman absented himself from queen Elizabeth II’s address in 1991. Three decades on, times have changed as King Charles prepares to address both houses of the US Congress
By Keith Duggan, The Irish Times
When Massachusetts congressman Richard Neal takes his seat in the House chamber for Tuesday’s address by king Charles, his mind will inevitably turn to the last occasion that a British monarch gave an address in the Capitol.
It was May of 1991. George Bush was president and Neal, just three years a Democratic congressman, was a conscientious objector. He skipped queen Elizabeth II’s address along with other politicians with strong Irish links – Brian Donnelly, Joe Kennedy and Joe Earley were among those who did not attend.
Neal is not a performative politician and made a quiet stand but his absence caused controversy anyway, both in Washington and in the vicinity of his Springfield constituency. The story was carried on the front page of that week’s Springfield Union-News in which Neal defended his Irish heritage.
“There were critics, that’s for sure,” Neal recalls now.
“And it’s the challenge that presentism affords. The backdrop was at that time there were 30,000 British soldiers in an area the size of Connecticut, in Northern Ireland. There were watchtowers – I had visited, I was fairly knowledgeable and it seemed to be a grudging acknowledgment by the British government that something had to be done but they were slow-walking, after centuries, what had to be done.
“The world was changing. The Soviet Union had collapsed. South Africa was changing. The world had seen these substantial reforms but not in the North of Ireland.”
Throughout the 1990s Neal established himself as a steadfast supporter of the peace process and is now regarded as a key ally to Ireland on Capitol Hill. Like many of those integrally involved, he is deeply proud of the enduring legacy of the Belfast Agreement. His commitment was both political and emotional.
In 1991, Neal made no public announcement about absenting himself form the queen’s speech. But when he was asked about it by the Union-News, he gave this unblinking reply: “My grandmother [Mary Ward Neal] came from Ulster around the turn of the century. I never heard her say she was from Northern Ireland. She was from Ireland. Americans have always had an aversion, as Jefferson reminded us, to kings and queens and I feel quite strongly that Ireland should be united under one government.”
It’s a fascinating perspective when plonked into the political tumult across the US in its 250th year of independence. The No Kings movement has become emblematic of the protests of Americans alarmed by the methodology and ideology of the current administration. To watch queen Elizabeth’s address from 35 years ago is to be struck by how distant that period seems now. Through the intervening decades, Neal has been consistently returned to Congress by his constituents even as the traditional party division at national level has become a chasm.
“It’s fractured,” Neal agrees.
“That’s for sure. I think this has been brewing for a bit. It hasn’t just happened. I also think that the noisiest parts of the American political system are on the very left and the right. And when you look at who will vote in November it is likely going to be decided by independent voters. And they tend not to like excitable language which the most vocal parts of the two parties exhibit. But it is a substantial change to the Congress I first came to.”
But he believes that while the noisier performers in Capitol Hill generate attention, there is a significant cohort of more traditional, and subdued, politicians who are doing their best to navigate what seems like a hopeless impasse.
“There is. They don’t attract the headlines but they remain the fulcrum of where governmental decisions are made.”
There is a rare consensus across the aisle about the November midterms standing as most consequential in living memory. A series of special elections have returned promising results for a Democratic Party that is still reeling a little from the November 2024 presidential election melodramas. But what strikes Neal is the relative narrowness of the number of seats that are, realistically, in play for both parties.
“I think it’s astounding in a system with 435 representatives that maybe 50 seats are really in play. It’s so entrenched. Let’s be candid: social media, choose-a-side journalism, talk radio, you name it. People are parked very carefully in their own political ecosystems.”
The Republican part of that ecosystem has heard, over the past number of months, Donald Trump’s increasing unhappiness with Britain’s prime minister Keir Starmer. The arrival of king Charles has been portrayed as a delicate diplomatic mission with a volatile president at a time when the Anglo-American relationship is at a low ebb.
It is just the second ever address to Congress by a British monarch. Among all of the speeches the 77-year-old royal has given, Tuesday’s joint address to Congress has been forecast as critical in that the king will, in essence, be delivering a message from government.
“I will be there,” congressman Neal says.
“I certainly can’t defend what Trump has done. I feel he has alienated much of the rest of the world. At the same time, he certainly seems to have a soft spot for British royalty. Which surprises all of us because here we are on the eve of the 250th anniversary of our declaration of independence. So, it’s complicated to remember what the Brits did in Ireland, then you have the Revolution – it’s probably not the easiest time to be coming here!”
