Biden describes Queen Elizabeth II as ‘very gracious’ after tea at Windsor Castle

Few figures on the international stage have been in the game longer than President Biden, but one of them is Queen Elizabeth II.

Nearly 40 years ago after the two first met when he was a U.S. senator, the British monarch received Mr. Biden as well as first lady Jill Biden at an official ceremony Sunday followed by tea at Windsor Castle, the final stop on his trip to England for the Group of Seven economic summit.

The 95-year-old monarch has now met 14 U.S. presidents, undoubtedly more than any living person, including all but one sitting president since her reign began in 1952 — the exception being President Lyndon B. Johnson during his 1963-69 White House tenure.

Mr. Biden praised the queen afterward as “very gracious,” and said that she asked about Chinese president Xi Jinping and Russian president Vladimir Putin, with whom the president is scheduled to meet Wednesday.

He also said that she reminded him of his mother, Catherine Finnegan Biden.

“We had a long talk, and she was very generous,” Mr. Biden told reporters afterward. “I don’t think she’d be insulted, but [she] reminds me of my mother, in terms of the look of her and just the generosity.”

Mr. Biden met the queen in 1982, but his first rendezvous with her as president came Friday at a reception in Cornwall, the site of the summit, an event that included G-7 leaders as well as the two royals next in line for the throne, her son Prince Charles and grandson Prince William.

Mr. Biden’s visit to Windsor Castle began with a presentation of the honor guard at the Windsor Castle quadrangle.

The Bidens stood on the dais on either side of the queen for the ceremony, then Mr. Biden was invited for an inspection of the Guard of Honor accompanied by Maj. James Taylor, captain of the queen’s company, and Maj. Gen. Christopher Ghika, captain of the guard.

 

President Biden and The First Lady drop in for tea with HM The Queen at Windsor Castle this afternoon 🇺🇸 🇬🇧 🫖 pic.twitter.com/GPSGHpY0gJ

— Chris Jackson (@ChrisJack_Getty) June 13, 2021

 

The Bidens were escorted into the castle to the queen’s apartment for the private meeting. Mr. Biden said afterward that he invited her for a visit to the White House.

After tea, Mr. Biden jetted off to Brussels for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit.

The Biden visit represented one of the queen’s first public appearances since the death of her husband Prince Phillip, who passed away in April at the age of 99.

The royal family marked what would have been his 100th birthday on Thursday.

In her life, Elizabeth has met 14 U.S. presidents — 12 while she was queen and he was president.

She was still a princess when she was introduced to her first U.S. commander-in-chief, President Harry S. Truman, in 1951.

The 14th of those presidents was no longer in office for their encounter. In 1957, she met former President Herbert Hoover at a luncheon, about 24 years after he left the Oval Office in 1933.