MOSCOW, August 25 (RIA Novosti) - The British Embassy in Washington D.C. has issued an apology after tweeting a photograph of a cake celebrating the 200th anniversary of the White House’s burning.
“Apologies for earlier Tweet. We meant to mark an event in history & celebrate our strong friendship today,” the embassy tweeted three hours after uploading the initial photograph.
The original tweet contained a picture of a White House cake, accompanied by the caption “Commemorating the 200th anniversary of burning the White House. Only sparklers this time!”
The short message received thousands of retweets and dozens of angry replies. Several users described it as “tasteless,” and one went as far as stating that it is “good to know the US isn't the only country with a mentally deficient diplomatic corps that doesn't know how to tweet.”
On August 24, 1814, British troops set fire to the White House in Washington D.C., retaliating an American attack on the city of York in Ontario, Canada.
The United Kingdom is the only country ever to have burned the official presidential residence in the United States’ capital.
