US President Joe Biden is organizing the wedding of his granddaughter Naomi at the White House on Saturday, an unprecedented event from which the press is however kept away.
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Naomi Biden, 28, lawyer, wife Peter Neal, 25, law graduate.
It’s not entirely unusual for the tall white colonnaded building at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, adorned for the occasion with garlands of white flowers, to host a nuptials.
The White House Historical Association counted that eighteen marriages had already been celebrated there, after for example that of Richard Nixon’s daughter in 1971, and that of Barack Obama’s official photographer, Pete Souza, in 2013.
The White House, according to the same source, has also hosted receptions for weddings celebrated elsewhere on four occasions – for example that of George W. Bush’s daughter, Jenna, in 2008.
But this is the first time that a president has married his granddaughter there.
The services of Joe Biden, who will celebrate his 80th birthday on Sunday, were sparse with details on the wedding, described as a private event and completely closed to the press, which is debating.
“Pop”
“The press has covered weddings performed at the White House because this place belongs to the American people and because the president’s participation is an event of national importance”, criticized on Twitter Kelly O’Donnell, journalist for the chain. NBC and future president of the White House Correspondents Association.
The New York Times, however, revealed some details: the two fiancés, who would currently live in the White House, will exchange their vows there before a lunch and then a gala evening.
The future bride, eldest daughter of Hunter Biden, the youngest son of the Democratic president, announced her engagement last September on her Instagram account, which alternates vacation snapshots, family photos of the Biden clan, and social snapshots.
The President of the United States is very close to his grandchildren, who call him “Pop” and are often seen by his side, including at official events.
Naomi takes her name from the first daughter of Joe Biden, who died when she was still a baby in an accident which also claimed the life, in 1972, of the first wife of the American president.
The press attributes her great importance in the private circle of the American president, and indicates that she pushed her grandfather to run for president in 2020.