President Biden compared Queen Elizabeth II to his mother after taking tea with the British queen at Windsor Castle on Sunday, his final set-piece event before wrapping up his foreign tour in the United Kingdom.
The Queen, who is 95 years old, hosted the Bidens at her ancient home 30 miles west of London. They were met by an official Guard of Honor military parade, which presented them with a royal salute and performed the national anthem of the United States.
Mr Biden later stated that the Queen reminded him of his mother, and that he had invited her to the White House.
“I don’t think she’d be insulted but she reminded me of my mother, the look of her and just the generosity,” Biden, 78, told reporters soon before departing London.
“She’s extremely gracious, that’s not surprising, but we had a great talk. She wanted to know what the two leaders that I — the one I’m about to meet with, Mr Putin, and she wanted to know about Xi Jinping, and we had a long talk.”
Getting a peep into discussions between the British queen and foreign leaders is extremely rare. Prime ministers in the United Kingdom are expected to keep their interactions with the queen, who is expected to remain politically neutral at all times, private.
Biden stood in the sunshine next to the queen, wearing aviator sunglasses, before inspecting the troops at Windsor Castle’s quadrangle. They were last seen on television at the solemn burial service for her husband, Prince Philip, who died in April at the age of 99.
It comes after the conclusion of the G7 conference in Cornwall, where world leaders discussed vaccinations and climate change, among other topics.
The Bidens flew Air Force One from Newquay, Cornwall, to London’s Heathrow Airport before transferring to a Marine One helicopter for the short trip to Windsor.
Biden and his wife Jill were cordially received by the Queen, who was dressed in a bright pink floral costume, at the Quadrangle of the castle, which has been home to the royal family for for 1,000 years, where they were given to a taste of British grandeur.
Before entering the castle for tea, the president viewed a Guard of Honour composed of The Queen’s Company First Battalion Grenadier Guards.
“I said I wish we could stay longer, maybe we could hold the cars up a minute, and stuff. Anyway, she was very gracious,” said the president who confirmed he had invited the monarch to the White House.
Biden is the 13th president of the United States that the queen has met throughout her lengthy reign. She has gone horseback riding with Ronald Reagan, danced with Gerald Ford, and attended a baseball game with George H.W. Bush.
In recent years, the queen has hosted four previous presidents at Windsor Castle, including Donald Trump, who stunned reporters and palace analysts in 2018 by marching ahead of the queen, at times obstructing her view and giving her his back.
“There are those that say they have never seen the queen have a better time,” Trump told Fox News after a state visit in 2019.
Biden, who first met the queen in 1982 as a Democratic senator from Delaware, described her as “extremely gracious,” following the encounter.
The Bidens left just after 18:00 BST, which means they spent about 40 minutes inside the castle.
The entire visit took slightly over an hour and was estimated to have gone over by ten minutes.
The Bidens had previously met the queen on their tour to the United Kingdom. On Friday night, in the southern English county of Cornwall, where the three-day summit was place, she hosted a reception for leaders of the Group of Seven affluent nations and their spouses.
This is Elizabeth’s first international-esque appearance since her husband, Prince Philip’s, burial, and she handled her responsibilities as she always does.
She participated in the cutting of a cake — with a long ceremonial sword — at a charity event in Cornwall. When she was told she could use a knife instead, she swiftly dismissed the suggestion. She proceeded with the sword, saying, “I know there is” a knife, “But this [sword] is something more unusual.”
