Britain and the E.U. Are Breaking Up, but They’re Still Partying Together

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/13/us/politics/brexit-eu-union-day-britain-embassy.html

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WASHINGTON — Few couples would celebrate their wedding anniversary after one of them had filed for divorce, but that is just what the British Embassy here did on Saturday by holding a party to celebrate European Union Day.

Thousands streamed through the ambassador’s residence and gardens in an annual tradition that has become one of Washington’s signature spring events, with all 28 embassies of the European Union opening their doors.

But Britain’s continued participation was a surprise to some, since British voters narrowly decided in a referendum last year to leave the European Union.

Prime Minister Theresa May formally requested the split in March, and since then, the parting has become increasingly acrimonious. European officials have demanded that Britain pay a steep exit penalty of more than $118 billion, and Mrs. May has lashed out at European officials for what she called threats against Britain and efforts to meddle in coming national elections.

Nonetheless, the British Embassy here festooned itself with bunting and announced that its wrought-iron gates would be thrown open as part of a celebration of its doomed marriage.

“It doesn’t feel awkward to me,” the British ambassador, Kim Darroch, said while standing in his residence’s vast library as an unending line of tourists wandered nearby.

Mr. Darroch noted that Britain was still part of the European Union. Most analysts predict the divorce process will take at least two years and, given the increasing acrimony, perhaps far longer.

But Mr. Darroch pushed such gloomy predictions away.

“We don’t want a hard divorce, an unfriendly divorce, ending up in the courts,” he said. “We want to end up, as the prime minister has said, with — and I’ll quote her here — a deep and special relationship with the European Union with, at its center, a free-trade relationship.”

It is a wish that European officials have branded as delusional. British leaders are hoping to maintain the country’s easy access to European markets while severely restricting immigration from European countries, a deal that European leaders have flatly rejected.

But hope for a beneficial pact may be one reason that Britain decided to participate in Saturday’s party. The embassy parked a fleet of British luxury cars, including Jaguars and Land Rovers — made by companies owned since 2008 by Tata Motors of India. British police officers, in their signature helmets, were also on the grounds, as were actors in Shakespearean garb.

Eduardo Ferrero, of Springfield, Va., said he was surprised that the British had participated, and he and his wife and two daughters said they had made a point of visiting the embassy this year because of uncertainty about whether the British would do so again next year.

They try to see as many embassies as possible during the event each year, they said. This year, they also saw the embassies of Germany, France, Italy and Denmark.

Their favorite was Italy’s.

“The Italians had really good pastries,” said Claudia Ferrero, 19, one of Mr. Ferrero’s daughters.

Yasmin Iacampo, Mr. Ferrero’s wife, said she hoped the British would stay in the European Union.

“They have two years to change their minds,” she said.

The British ambassador’s residence, which was the focus on Saturday’s tour, was built in 1930 near the Naval Observatory, now the official residence of the vice president. The home is the only building in the United States designed by Edwin Lutyens, one of Britain’s greatest architects, who helped design and build much of New Delhi. The wood paneling inside the residence was largely made from the trees cut down to make way for the home. And many of the building’s columns, meant to look like marble, are actually made of iron, since money ran low during its construction in the Great Depression.

The gardens around the home are among the most impressive in official Washington, with a hidden fish pond, a bat house and a large collection of rare orchids.

The embassy used the event this year to promote British tourism, noting that 2017 is the 20th anniversary of the publication of the first Harry Potter book and the 200th anniversary of the death of Jane Austen.

Jim Brinker, another visitor, said it had not even occurred to him that Britain might not participate in Saturday’s event. He, his wife and two daughters had intended to visit four or five embassies on Saturday, but made it only to Belgium’s and Britain’s.

“We’ll start earlier next year,” Mr. Brinker said with a laugh.