British embassy sparks anger for tweet celebrating 1814 White House burning

When it comes to the diplomatic use of a Twitter account, it seems that even 200 years isn’t distance enough to spare a nation’s blushes.

That’s the hard lesson that the British embassy in Washington has learned after it posted on its official feed what it thought was a light-hearted tweet to mark the 200th anniversary of the burning of the White House by British troops.

The tweet featured a photograph of a cake on which a model of the White House was flanked by British and American flags and encircled by lighted fireworks, with the words: “Only sparklers this time!”

Despite the passage of two centuries, many Twitter users were less than amused. As Yossi Gestetner put it: “WWHHAATT??? Is this suppose to be funny?”

Given the thawing of relations that have occurred between the two countries since the White House was set ablaze on 24 August 1814 as part of the 1812 war, US diplomatic forces swiftly came to the British embassy’s assistance. A senior US state department official retweeted the photo of the cake, saying: “The difference 200 years can make in foreign relations”.

It was not enough, however. Within hours of its original posting, the sober tone of British diplomatic parlance had returned in the form of an abject apology. “We meant to mark an event in history & celebrate our strong friendship today,” the embassy said, linking to a suitably somber article on the anniversary of the ransacking on the Huffington Post.