They didn't, alphabetical order in French is the protocol in question. The USA's name in French is États-Unis, putting it much earlier in the alphabet than it would be in English. Since France and Finland (both still start with F in French) were in the front row, we know that États-Unis would be too

[–] chellewalker@lemmy.ca 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Why does it go by French names rather than Latin or even Italian?

[–] napoleonsdumbcousin@feddit.org 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Because french was historically the language of diplomacy back when the rules were made. This is also mentioned in the article.

[–] ByteJunk@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

And you're the dumb cousin? Damn guess that explains the empire...

[–] GroteStreet@aussie.zone 0 points 1 year ago

Pah! Who has time to read articles? Where's my AI summary? /s

[–] Hawke@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

Because it’s the lingua franca of the world.

[–] Valmond@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

Albanians 😎

[–] _cryptagion@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

If you had read the article, you would know that no, they did not.

Arcane rules dictated that world leaders be seated in alphabetical order according to the name of their country in French – the traditional language of diplomacy when the protocols were made.

The name for the United States in French is Les États-Unis d’Amérique. Meaning the US president would sit right at the front.

[–] laserm@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

He's done more for freedom than the Orange Moron.

[–] Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 year ago

What a weird thing to say. Trump has literally done nothing for freedom. He has only endangered it on a global scale.

[–] JailElonMusk@sopuli.xyz 0 points 1 year ago

I mean he's now the defacto leader of the free world.

In my mind he deserves that and so much more.

[–] shadow_figurine@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

hey wait a minute theres a lot of blue suits