Prague, Nov 30 (CTK) – Czech President Milos Zeman will receive credentials from the new U.S. Ambassador to Prague, Stephen B. King, on Wednesday, Zeman’s spokesman Jiri Ovcacek confirmed to CTK on Thursday.
Afterwards, King will be able to officially execute his post.
King arrived in the Czech Republic in early November.
The previous ambassador of the United States to the Czech Republic was Andrew Schapiro from September 2014. He was appointed by former president Barack Obama.
Zeman had tense relations with Schapiro. In reaction to the ambassador’s criticism, Zeman said Schapiro had the doors to Prague Castle, the president’s office, closed.
After Donald Trump was elected the president last November, his first wife, Czech-born Ivana Trump, expressed interest in the post.
Supporting the idea, Zeman said he could not imagine a better candidate for the post than her. However, Ivana Trump rejected the offer eventually.
The United States decided to send King to Prague. Similar to Schapiro, he is not a career diplomat either.
King, 76, is a long-term member of the Republican Party for which Trump was elected, and he worked in its leadership. King has links to the former White House chief of staff, Reince Priebus, but he has no direct political contacts with Trump, according to commentators.
