Queen Elizabeth II to meet Joe Biden at Windsor Castle next week
After meeting dignitaries virtually during the pandemic, the Queen will host Joe and Jill Biden in person at Windsor Castle next week.
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The Queen will meet with US President Joe Biden in person on June 13 after he attends a G7 summit in Britain, Buckingham Palace announced on Thursday local time.
It said the 95-year-old monarch will meet the US President and First Lady Jill Biden at Windsor Castle west of London, where she has largely lived since the coronavirus pandemic first swept Britain in March 2020.
“The Queen will meet the President of the United States of America and First Lady Jill Biden at Windsor Castle on Sunday, 13th June 2021,” Buckingham Palace said in a short statement.
The Queen, who has received her two doses of Covid-19 vaccination, has been holding the vast majority of meetings virtually, including audiences with foreign ambassadors.
It will be her most high-profile official engagement since presiding over the state opening of British parliament on May 11, which was her first public appearance since the funeral of her husband Prince Philip. He died on April 9, aged 99.
The meeting with the Bidens will come the day after her official birthday, and will follow the three-day summit of Group of Seven leaders in Cornwall, southwest England.
Mr Biden and his wife recently sent a message following Prince Philip’s death, saying: “On behalf of all the people of the United States, we send our deepest condolences to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the entire Royal Family, and all the people of the United Kingdom … Jill and I are keeping the Queen and Prince Philip’s children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren in our hearts during this time.”
The Bidens already have a connection with the royal family.
Jill has known Prince Harry for years after they first met at an event in 2012 for wounded US and British soldiers.
The pair are understood to have bonded over their military ties – with Jill’s stepson Beau tragically passing away in 2015 from brain cancer.
The First Lady has since been a regular at Prince Harry’s Invictus Games along with her husband.
Mr Biden even joked back in 2016 Jill “spent too much damn time with Prince Harry”.
The G7 gathering marks Mr Biden’s first foreign tour since taking office in January, and he will also make stops in Brussels and the Swiss city of Geneva — where he is set to hold a June 16 summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Mr Biden will be the 13th US President to meet the Queen, who has hosted every American head of state since taking the throne in 1952.
The only exception was Lyndon B. Johnson, who did not fly to Britain during his presidency. Donald Trump staged a controversial state visit to Britain in June 2019.
The official birthday celebration is normally marked by a military parade called “Trooping the Colour”, featuring hundreds of personnel from Britain’s most prestigious regiments.
But it has been cancelled for a second year, owing to the pandemic.
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Originally published as Queen Elizabeth II to meet Joe Biden at Windsor Castle next week
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