When Protocol Collides with Power: A Diplomatic Misstep in Washington - Revue Diplomatique - May 25th, 2025

[SSgt Waller]

When Protocol Collides with Power: A Diplomatic Misstep in Washington

 

Washington’s quiet summer night was interrupted not by an international crisis in the usual sense, but by a seemingly banal traffic incident. Yet, in the space of a few hours, it evolved into a textbook example of how fragile the choreography of diplomacy can be. The principal actor: Crown Prince Moulay Idris El Mansour of Morocco, heir to a monarchy that remains one of the United States’ most reliable partners in North Africa.

 

The episode unfolded in the streets of Georgetown, where the Prince’s convoy allegedly brushed against another vehicle. While no injuries were reported, the interaction between the Prince’s security detail and the Metropolitan Police quickly descended into confusion. Officers, unbriefed on the presence of a foreign royal with full diplomatic immunity, attempted to question — and, according to witnesses, briefly restrain — a member of the entourage.

 

Passerby footage of the diplomatic faux-pas was posted online. 

 

Here, the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961 should have acted as the invisible script, ensuring the encounter concluded without incident. Instead, a lack of familiarity with its provisions exposed the limits of protocol training in local law enforcement.

In Rabat, the Royal Cabinet responded within hours. Its communiqué spoke of “regrettable treatment” and “the erosion of mutual respect.” The language was restrained but unmistakable — a signal that even an incident without physical harm could register as a breach of the delicate balance that underpins bilateral ties.

The United States, conscious of Morocco’s role as a linchpin in regional security — from counterterrorism cooperation in the Sahel to mediation in the Western Sahara dispute — moved swiftly. A senior delegation from the State Department will travel to Rabat in the coming days to offer what officials term “clarification and reaffirmation.”

This rush to mend fences is not mere courtesy. Morocco occupies a strategic crossroads: an interlocutor between Arab, African, and Western spheres; a monarchy that has navigated upheavals in the region without succumbing to them. For Washington, any fissure in this relationship could reverberate through trade agreements, military cooperation, and shared intelligence frameworks.

 

The Crown Prince himself has remained silent, leaving his image to be shaped by photographs of a smiling departure from Dulles International Airport. Whether this smile signals magnanimity or calculated restraint is a matter for speculation.

 

“Seeing you smile, I know immediately that you are dwelling in awareness. Keep this smile always blooming, the half-smile of a Buddha.”

 

In the end, the episode is a reminder that diplomacy is not only conducted in summits and communiqués. It can just as easily hinge on a street corner, in the span of minutes, when the symbolic weight of a crown meets the procedural blind spots of a capital city.

 

Revue Diplomatique

Rachid Benyamina – North Africa and Sahel specialist