Queen Elizabeth will meet American President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden at Windsor Castle next week.
Buckingham Palace has confirmed the meeting will take place on June 13, to coincide with the end of Biden’s visit to the UK for the G7 summit of leaders from the world’s biggest economies. It will be his first trip to Britain since he was sworn in as the country’s 46th president in January, and his first overseas trip, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a statement, Buckingham Palace said: “The Queen will meet the President of the United States of America and First Lady Jill Biden at Windsor Castle on Sunday 13 June 2021.”
Biden is the 12th serving US president the queen will have met during her time on the throne – which reaches 70 years in 2022 – the last was Donald Trump who visited Buckingham Palace with First Lady Melania Trump in 2019.
The only White House incumbent she never met during her 69-year reign is Lyndon B Johnson, who didn’t visit the UK during his time in office.
It was originally reported last week that the White House were finalising plans for the Biden, 78, and his wife to meet the British monarch in conjunction with the G7 Summit in Cornwall, South West England.
And it’s unlikely the queen will be the only royal the president meets as her son Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, as well as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are expected to be present for the meeting in order to cement the “special relationship” between the UK and the US.