Embassy apologises after White House cake prompts row

The British Embassy in Washington has issued an apology after Twitter users complained about it posting a picture of a cake decorated with sparklers baked to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the White House being burned down by British troops.

An image of the cake was posted on the embassy’s Twitter feed with the caption: “Commemorating the 200th anniversary of burning the White House. Only sparklers this time!”

But the embassy was forced to apologise after a series of comments on the website claimed the post was in poor taste.

The embassy said: “Apologies for earlier Tweet. We meant to mark an event in history & celebrate our strong friendship today.”

The original post was criticised by Twitter users including Michael R Wimberly, who complained about the "stupidity or perhaps the tasteless" nature of the post.

Yossi Gestenter asked “is this supposed to be funny?” and added: “HELLO David_Cameron. The tweet by UKinUSA is of poor taste. Disappointed in the Conservatives.”

Historian Cindy Gueli used her Twitter account to say the party at the embassy where the cake was served was "maybe not in the best taste".

But other US Twitter users showed their support for the British Embassy in commemorating the fire, which happened on August 24th, 1814 during the War of 1812.

Washington resident J Christiaan Collins said it was a "pleasure to attend this event! All in good fun!" and said there was "no need to apologise".

Reuters