Joe Biden has bid farewell to the United Kingdom after enjoying three sunny days on the Cornish coast, followed by a meeting with Her Majesty the Queen over tea at Windsor Castle on Sunday. The President and First Lady Jill Biden flew from the G7 summit in Cornwall to Heathrow by Air Force One and arrived at Windsor Castle via Marine One shortly after 5pm local time Sunday for a Guard of Honour followed by tea with the Queen.
The Queen, resplendent in a pink silk Stuart Parvin Dress and Rachel Trevor-Morgan hat, looked delighted to be meeting the Bidens just 48 hours after their first meeting at a reception for G7 leaders on Cornwall on Friday night.
It has been a busy weekend for Her Majesty, who took the royal train back to Windsor on Friday night so that she could be there Saturday for Trooping the Colour. The official birthday parade to mark the Queen’s 95th birthday was a scaled down event because of Covid restrictions, and the first official event the Queen has carried out at the castle since Prince Philip’s funeral just six weeks ago.
The Biden’s visit to Windsor Castle was not a state visit, but with the Guard of Honour and a 45 minute tea with the Monarch that ran even longer than scheduled, it was a very royal welcome. Sources close to the Queen said the monarch enjoyed meeting with the Bidens in Cornwall, and the Queen looked happy and relaxed in their company at today’s short and scaled back military parade.
In meeting the Bidens the Queen is continuing a decades-long tradition of welcoming US Presidents to the UK. Biden is the 13th President the Queen has met, and the fifth she has welcomed to Windsor Castle.
There was no breach of protocol this time, unlike in 2018 when President Trump accidentally walked in front of the Queen during the inspection of the Guard of Honour. Trump also shook the Queen’s hand, and put his hand on the monarch’s back, another breach of protocol during the state visit in 2019. The Bidens stuck to protocol, though they chose not to bow or curtsey to the Monarch, and Biden did not to take his sunglasses off during the ceremony in the quadrangle.
The Queen didn’t seem to mind, and was seen laughing and smiling with the President and First Lady, whom she appeared to have forged a friendly rapport with. When Biden went to inspec the Guard of Honour of the Queen’s Company First Battalion Grenadier Guards, the Queen chose to stay with the First Lady and watch from the dais sheltered from the 80-degree sun.
The topics they discussed over tea will remain private, although the President told White House reporters before flying to Brussels that the Queen was “very gracious” and asked him about life at the White House. “She reminded me of my mother, “Biden told the press pool. “We had a long talk, and she was very generous.”
Biden returned the honour of tea at Windsor Castle by inviting the Queen to the White House, and joked to reporters, “we could fit the White House in the Courtyard.”
It is likely that the President and the Queej discussed the success of the G7 summit, and maybe even Prince Harry and Meghan Markle; Harry knows the Bidens through his work supporting veterans. Harry and Meghan’s newborn daughter Lilibet Diana is, after all, an American citizen, born in California.
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