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 13 points 1 day ago (2 children)

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

[–] napoleonsdumbcousin@feddit.org 53 points 1 day ago (2 children)

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

[–] GroteStreet@aussie.zone 13 points 1 day ago

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

[–] Hawke@lemmy.world 7 points 23 hours ago

Because it’s the lingua franca of the world.

[–] Valmond@lemmy.world 18 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Albanians 😎

[–] Skua@kbin.earth 15 points 1 day ago

Conversely, Chad > Tchad and Czechia > Tchéquie

[–] _cryptagion@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours 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.

[–] shadow_figurine@lemmy.world 1 points 21 hours ago

hey wait a minute theres a lot of blue suits