US President Joe Biden spent just one night in Northern Ireland and limited his meetings with UK and local leaders to a minimum, before he goes on a nostalgia trip to his ancestral homeland.
But Downing Street denies any snub.
Unabashedly touting his Irish-American roots ahead of a likely reelection run, a US official quoted by the New York Times said the president is according British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak a mere "bi-latte" coffee meeting rather than a full bilateral in Belfast.
The Democrat is also skipping next month's coronation of King Charles, sending First Lady Jill Biden in his place.
But Downing Street points to a recent political summit in California and President Biden's acceptance of Charles's invitation to pay a state visit, as proof that the transatlantic relationship is alive and well, even if UK officials balk at calling it "special" anymore.
"You've seen the president's actions during his time demonstrate that we have a close relationship," Mr Sunak's spokesman said.
He noted that as president, Mr Biden's first visit outside North America was to the UK.
"We continue to have an incredibly positive working relationship with the president and the US government."
Nevertheless, the Biden administration has been widely seen as keeping London at arm's length as the UK struggles to carve out a new role since quitting the European Union.
Biden says focus of visit to 'keep the peace'
The UK's hopes for a post-Brexit US free trade deal appear dead for now, with the government settling for lower-grade agreements with individual US states that are of more symbolic than commercial value.
The White House made little effort to hide its frustration at the name-calling and brinkmanship that characterised London's dealings with Brussels under Mr Sunak's predecessor, Boris Johnson.
Mr Sunak appears to have turned the page on the UK's relations with the EU by forging a new pact on post-Brexit trading arrangements for Northern Ireland, called the Windsor Framework.
But the Democratic Unionist Party refuses to end its more than year-long boycott of the Stormont power-sharing government.
On leaving Washington, the president said his main focus in Belfast is ensuring the Good Friday Agreement and Windsor Framework "stay in place".
"Keep the peace. That's the main thing," he told reporters.
US political support was key to the peace agreement that ended the three-decade-long "Troubles" in April 1998.
But while Bill Clinton worked the phones to help secure the peace deal in 1998, Mr Biden is viewed with distrust by Northern Ireland's pro-UK politicians given his invocations of his Irish heritage.
Another Kennedy is part of delegation
Twenty-five years on, UK and some Northern Irish leaders hope for an infusion of US economic support to safeguard the peace through investment, even if Stormont remains in paralysis.
Sectarian strife has not gone away. Ahead of President Biden's trip, masked youths threw petrol bombs and fireworks at police during an unauthorised nationalist parade in Derry on Easter Monday.
But the president's delegation - which includes Joe Kennedy III, his newly-appointed Special Envoy for Northern Ireland - will also see the fruits of the peace agreement.
Mr Biden's five-star hotel in Belfast only opened in 2018, part of a wave of redevelopment that has transformed the city centre after its tragic recent past.
Before 1998, the only place for visiting dignitaries to stay was the nearby Europa, which was attacked so often by the IRA that it became known as the most bombed hotel in Europe.
Chris Heaton-Harris, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, denied that the short duration of Mr Biden's visit was a missed opportunity.
"I know he also wants to visit other things in Ireland and family," he said.
"But let's make the most of his visit and make it a really positive event on the trajectory of Northern Ireland's continued peace, stability, and actually prosperity as well."
