Why the Queen told the Bidens to ‘sit down’

When Joe and Jill Biden met the Queen for tea at Windsor the year before her death they found the monarch still very much in charge.

Joe Biden and the Queen in 2021. Picture: Getty Images

Jill Biden has opened up about her visit with the late Queen at Windsor Castle the year before the monarch’s death.

The Bidens sat down to have a private afternoon tea with the Queen during their 2021 visit to Britain, which ultimately would be the last time they would see her before the monarch died at Balmoral Castle in September, 2022 at the age of 96.

In Robert Hardman’s explosive new book The Making of a King: King Charles III and the Modern Monarchy, the royal biographer spoke with Mrs Biden who detailed the couple’s visit, reports the New York Post.

The late Queen with the Bidens at Windsor in 2021. Picture: Getty Images

“For the Bidens, a cherished memory would always be tea with the Queen at Windsor Castle in the year before her death,” Hardman wrote.

Mrs Biden recalled how her husband tried to help the Queen during the engagement, but the royal, who was always the pillar of proper etiquette, refused.

“We went up to her apartment. And I loved her sense of independence,” Mrs Biden says in the book.

The Bidens got a front-row seat to the late Queen’s “independence” when they visited her at Windsor in 2021. Picture: Getty Images

“She had a big teapot. And Joe said to her: ‘Here, let me help you.’ The Queen had been quite insistent, however. ‘No, no, no. You sit,’ she told the US President. ‘I will serve you.’”

Once tea was served, the trio had no shortage of things to talk about, Mrs Biden said.

“Here she was with this big teapot pouring tea and we had the best time because she has such a sense of curiosity,” Mrs Biden said.

“She asked all about American politics and what was going on and [the president’s] perceptions of different people and different events.”

The Bidens attend the Queen’s funeral at Westminster Abbey in 2022. Picture: Getty Images

It was, according to Mrs Biden, “every American’s ‘picture’ of a quintessential British tea party, especially when ‘her little dogs came in’”.

When it was time for the beloved and longest-reigning monarch to be laid to rest, the Bidens knew they had to attend and made plans to travel to Britain as soon as the Queen’s death had been announced.

“Joe and I just decided to attend,” Mrs Biden said.

“We all grew up with the Queen. She was such a big part of our lives. She was just always there and felt like she always would be – a really beautiful, spectacular, amazing woman.”

In addition to the Bidens, 2000 guests attended the Queen’s funeral service at Westminster Abbey, including representatives from 168 countries, 55 presidents and 25 prime ministers.

– with the New York Post

Originally published as Why the Queen told the Bidens to ‘sit down’