They had monarchs ascend the throne prior to 1952, but...
The fact is, prior to Queen Victoria, our relationship with Britain has been pretty much adversarial (think the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812), so why would any President go?
Despite the fairly good relationship we had with Britain when Victoria took the crown and the corresponding rise of American interest in the British monarchy, Van Buren did not attend her coronation, mainly because it was impractical.
Despite his very good relationship with King George VI and Elizabeth, and America's closeness to the U.K. post WWII, Eisenhower did not attend Elizabeth's coronation. Reason? Possibly the Korean War, possibly the one President tradition of not going.
Why didn't Joe go? Who knows... tradition? age? didn't want to miss the next episode of The Blacklist? It doesn't matter, no one has been offended... save for a few on the Trump train...