The Queen is greeted by Boris and his new wife Carrie as she arrives at the G7 summit in Cornwall 

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The Queen sent G7 leaders into fits of laughter when she quipped ‘are you supposed to look as if you’re enjoying yourself’ while posing for a photograph.

Britain sought to dazzle the world’s most powerful with a royal charm offensive at a no-holds-barred reception at the Eden Project in Cornwall on Friday night.

And the 95-year-old Monarch’s natural wit appeared to have won the leaders over when, during a posed photocall, she asked: ‘Are you supposed to look as if you’re enjoying yourself?’

As other leaders began to chuckle, Prime Minister Boris Johnson jokingly replied: ‘We have been enjoying ourselves, despite appearances.’

The Royal Family was out in force for the reception, with the Queen joined by the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, as well as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. 

Earlier this evening, Mr Johnson and his new wife Carrie – wearing a subdued floral dress from The Vampire’s Wife – were seen greeting the Royals.

Kate cut an elegant figure in a mid-length cream Alexander McQueen gown – thought to have cost £3,000 – while Camilla opted for a long sleeve black and white dress. The Queen fit the horticultural theme of the venue in a dress patterned with flowers.

US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill were also seen arriving. The reception marked the first time the newly elected President met the Queen – with latter seen beaming as she stood in conversation with both Mr Biden and the First Lady. 

Afterwards, Prince Charles with Prince William at his side hosted a reception for the leaders – including Mr Biden and Mr Johnson – and executives from some of the world’s largest companies to discuss how the private sector can work with governments to tackle climate change.

The Royals are at the centre of Britain’s diplomatic mission to woo the US as Mr Johnson pushes for a quick free trade deal with President Biden as well as a quarantine-free travel corridor this summer.

The Firm then left the reception before world leaders enjoyed an evening meal. The menu for the event had been created by chef Emily Scott of the Watergate Bay Hotel in Newquay and included Cornish turbot and new potatoes for the main course, and local cheeses.

Mr Johnson earlier expanded on his vision for the qualities the world should be encouraging following the havoc wreaked by Covid-19.

In a bizarre opening speech, he urged other G7 leaders to aim for a more ‘feminine’ and ‘gender neutral’ recovery and appealed for them to ‘level up’ and not repeat the mistakes of the aftermath of the credit crunch when ‘inequality’ increased.

Mr Johnson arrived hand in hand with Carrie at the Eden Project on Friday night, with the PM’s new wife wearing a black and floral The Vampire’s Wife dress which, when bought new, is £805.

But Carrie has shown a love for rental fashion apps and websites so far during her trip – with last night’s dress rented from British website HURR.

Also during the summit the Queen –  in a rare joint engagement with Camilla and Kate – attended an event at the Eden Project in celebration of The Big Lunch, which will form part of her platinum jubilee celebrations in 2022.

The charity pulls together communities at events involving food and drink. 

The three most senior royal women met Big Lunch volunteers, and thank them for their efforts supporting their communities through the challenges of the past year. 

Tomorrow’s entertainment will include a barbecue on Carbis Bay beach that will feature the Red Arrows flypast and music from sea shanty group Du Hag Owr.

Chef Simon Stallard from the Hidden Hut restaurant in nearby Portscatho has put together a menu that will include local crab, mackerel, lobster and sirloin plus Cornish sparkling wine.

Away from the feasting and politics, pandemic precautions have meant all countries are sending smaller delegations than usual. All delegates, including leaders, will have to take a Covid test every day.

Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, who was invited by Mr Johnson to attend the latter stages of the summit, will now take part virtually because of his country’s continuing Covid crisis.

Earlier on Friday, the Duchess of Cambridge, 39, joined First Lady Jill Biden, 70, to meet children aged four and five in reception class at the Connor Downs Academy near Camborne – followed by a round table discussion with UK education experts convened by Kate.

The royal mother-of-three and the US First Lady discussed female empowerment, children and early education during a seminar on their shared passion for children.  

The animated pair, who met for the first time, seemed to get on like a house on fire as they met children, staff and even helped feed carrots to the class rabbit, Storm. 

Kate also told reporters she ‘can’t wait to meet’ her new niece Lilibet.

Officially kicking off the summit in Carbis Bay, the PM appealed for leaders to ‘level up’ and not repeat the mistakes of the aftermath of the credit crunch when ‘inequality’ increased.

But he sparked bewilderment as he expanded on his vision for the qualities the world should be encouraging following the havoc wreaked by the devastating disease.    

As the leaders – including US president Joe Biden – sat around a table before the first session, Mr Johnson told them they need to ‘build back better’ and be ‘united in our vision for a cleaner, greener world’.

‘I think that is what the people of our countries now want us to focus on. They want us to be sure that we are beating the pandemic together and discussing how we will never have a repeat of what we have seen but also that we are building back better together,’ he said.

‘Building back greener and building back fairer and building back more equal and, how shall I, in a more gender neutral and, perhaps a more feminine way.

‘How about that, apart from anything else. So those are some of the objectives that we have before us at Carbis Bay.’  

Asked what the premier meant by a ‘feminine’ recovery, his spokesman said he had been referring to a £430million pledge to support education for vulnerable young children and particularly girls. 

The comments came after the PM finally came off the fence after days of dodging over whether the England football team should be ‘taking the knee’ – with No10 saying that he backs ‘peaceful protest’ and wants fans to get behind the team. It amounted to a slapdown for skills minister Gillian Keegan, who had slammed the gesture, linked to the BLM movement, for ‘creating new divisions’. 

It marks a significant shift for the government, which has seemed keen to take aim at the so-called ‘woke’ agenda, triggering claims that they are waging cultural wars.

But it will also spark alarm among Tory MPs, many of whom are deeply suspicious of a BLM movement they regard as hard-Left and anti-police. 

Before going into the private discussions that he described as a ‘fireside chat’ for the world’s most powerful countries, Mr Johnson told the group how pleased he was they could all meet in person for the first time since the crisis erupted.

‘I actually think this is a meeting that genuinely needs to happen because we need to make sure that we learn the lessons from the pandemic, we need to make sure that we don’t repeat some of the errors that we doubtless made in the course of the last 18 months or so and we need to make sure that we now allow our economies to recover,’ he said.

‘I think that they have the potential to bounce back very strongly and there is all sorts of reasons for being optimistic.

‘But it is vital that we don’t repeat the mistake of the last great crisis, the last great economic recession in 2008, when the recovery was not uniform across all parts of society and I think what has gone wrong with this pandemic, or what risks being a lasting scar, is that I think the inequalities may be entrenched.

‘We need to make sure that as we recover we level up across our societies and we build back better.’ 

Earlier, the PM and Carrie – believed to be a major influence on his green agenda – were all smiles as they formally greeted G7 leaders on the golden sands of Carbis Bay.

The PM and his new wife, wearing a vivid fuchsia Roksanda dress – which can be rented online for just £24 – welcomed the guests to the official start of the summit one by one on a beachfront board walk. 

Mr Johnson, who notoriously boasted he was still shaking hands with everyone in the early stages of the pandemic, appeared to remind himself not to get too close, saying ‘Elbows!’  

Joe Biden was accompanied by wife Jill, while Angela Merkel was with her husband, but Justin Trudeau and Mario Draghi of Italy arrived alone. 

A grinning Emmanuel Macron strolled up alongside Brigitte, with Mr Johnson warmly referring to him as ‘Emmanuel’ despite the French president stoking the Northern Ireland row by vowing to veto an overhaul of the protocol. 

Mr Biden made a quip urging people to go swimming, saying ‘everyone in the water’- with Mr Johnson joking in response that he had already been in.  

Jill Biden laughed: ‘I feel like we are at a wedding’. Later Mr Johnson joked that it was like ‘walking down the aisle.’   

The leaders then posed for the traditional family photograph – again socially distanced – before heading inside for the first summit session.

But there was time for one more move from Mr Macron. As Mr Johnson led the way at the urging of Mrs Merkel, the French President took the opportunity to throw his arm around Mr Biden’s shoulders and begin an animated discussion.