When US president-elect Donald Trump takes the oath of office on January 20 on Capitol Hill amidst all the attendant pomp and pageantry, his defeated Democratic rival Hillary Clinton will be in the audience with her husband, former president Bill Clinton.
They are attending the inauguration as will be former president George W Bush, who, along with his father, former president George H W Bush, did not endorse Trump. But he had called to congratulate Trump after this victory.
Former presidents are invited to attend by protocol with their spouses, but they don’t have to. Hillary Clinton, as the defeated rival, also didn’t have to attend — Mitt Romney didn’t at President Barack Obama’s second inauguration in 2012.
But Clinton’s attendance is likely to be seen as another symbol of a peaceful transition of power after a bitterly contentious race.
Of the two other living former presidents Jimmy Carter will be attending but not George H W Bush, for health reasons.