A fiery new petition says Donald Trump's UK visit would 'cause embarrassment' to the Queen
The INSIDER Summary
• A new petition says that inviting President Trump to the UK would embarrass the Queen.
• As of this writing, it has gathered more than 1.4 million signatures.
• Now the issue is being debated by Parliament.
More than a million Brits say that inviting President Donald Trump to the UK would "cause embarrassment" for current monarch Queen Elizabeth II, according to a Reuters report.
A new petition with more than 1.4 million signatures calls for the UK government to rescind its invitation to President Trump after he signed an executive order that temporarily bans people from seven majority-Muslim countries from entering the US.
On Monday afternoon, support for the petition was steadily increasing by as many as a hundred new signatures every few seconds, and live Facebook video showed that Parliament had already begun to debate the issue. Any petitions with more than 100,000 signatures must automatically be considered for debate in Parliament, according to Reuters.
"Donald Trump should be allowed to enter the UK in his capacity as head of the US Government, but he should not be invited to make an official State Visit because it would cause embarrassment to Her Majesty the Queen," the petition reads. "Donald Trump's well documented misogyny and vulgarity disqualifies him from being received by Her Majesty the Queen or the Prince of Wales."
Last week British Prime Minister Theresa May became the first foreign leader to visit President Trump, CNN reported. While at the White House, May invited Trump for a state visit to the UK, and he accepted.
But May has been pressured to cancel the visit ever since the announcement of Trump signed the controversial executive order. And while her spokespeople have said that they "disagree" with the order, there are currently no plans to take back the invitation.
"To be clear, the prime minister extended an invitation on behalf of the Queen - and she was very happy to do so," May's office said. "The USA is one of this country's closest allies, and we look forward to hosting the president later this year."
This is not the first time Parliament has debated over President Trump: Last year, almost 600,000 people signed a petition to ban him from the UK after he made controversial comments about Muslims, according to CNN. Despite parliamentary debate, a ban was never put to a vote.
And even though this new petition has garnered massive public support, Reuters reported that petitions like these are "largely symbolic" and don't usually result in policy changes.
The Royal family hasn't released an official statement in response to the petition at the time of this post.