Joe Biden heads to Windsor for afternoon tea: Queen welcomes US President and First Lady

3.6k

View
comments

President Joe Biden said the Queen reminds him of his mother as he was welcomed to Windsor with a Guard of Honour and tea today.

The American leader and First Lady Jill Biden landed at Berkshire royal residence on Marine One just before 5pm this evening, after attending the G7 summit in Cornwall. 

Today’s celebration consisted of a reduced parade in the grounds of Windsor Castle, instead of central London, due to the Covid pandemic. 

President Biden met the Queen at the dais in the quadrangle, and a Guard of Honour, consisting of the Queen’s Company First Battalion Grenadier Guards, performed a Royal Salute.  

The Officer Commanding the Guard of Honour, Maj James Taylor, accompanied Mr Biden, along with Maj Gen Christopher Ghika, in an inspection of the Honour Guard. 

The President then entered the castle through the Sovereign’s Entrance at 5.18pm to enjoy tea with the Queen. 

Mr Biden spoke to the press before he took off for Brussels, telling reporters the monarch was ‘very gracious’, adding: ‘She reminded me of my mother.’ 

Catherine Biden, who the family called Jean, died in 2010 at the age of 92.

Mr Biden said of the Queen: ‘I don’t think she’d be insulted but she reminded me of my mother, the look of her and just the generosity.’ 

‘We had a long talk,’ Biden said, ‘and she was very generous.’  

The President revealed that the Queen asked him about the leaders of Russia and China, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping. He said she also asked what life in the White House was like.

‘I said, this is… we could fit the White House in the courtyard’, Mr Biden added, referring to the Windsor Castle.

Asked if he had invited the Queen to the White House, he said ‘yes’. 

Mr Biden and the First Lady had met the Queen on Friday when she attended a reception for G7 leaders at the Eden Project.  

Their latest meeting comes the day after the Queen received her official birthday gift from the nation’s armed forces – a ceremony of pomp and pageantry in her honour – which was held at the castle. 

The traditional Trooping the Colour ceremony, which is normally staged in London, was ruled out for the second successive year because of the threat of coronavirus.

The carefully-choreographed arrangements to welcome Mr Biden echo the welcome given to Donald Trump in 2018, when the controversial then-US president travelled to Windsor to meet the monarch.

Mr Trump and the Queen had afternoon tea together in the castle’s Oak Room, with the meeting lasting longer than expected.

It was due to last around half-an-hour, but overran by almost 20 minutes.

In 2008, when then US president George W Bush met with the monarch at Windsor, he enjoyed a traditional English afternoon spread of tea, small sandwiches and cakes in the White Drawing Room.

The Queen will greet the Bidens at the dais in the castle’s quadrangle. A Guard of Honour formed of The Queen’s Company First Battalion Grenadier Guards will give a Royal Salute, and the US national anthem will be played.

Mr Biden will then accompany the Officer Commanding the Guard of Honour, Major James Taylor, and Major General Christopher Ghika to inspect the Honour Guard, before returning to the dais to watch the military march-past with the Queen and First Lady.

In 2018, the Queen accompanied Mr Trump to inspect the Guard of Honour at Windsor.

Escorting a visiting head of state to inspect the troops is a role which usually fell to the late Duke of Edinburgh, before he retired in 2017.

There have been 14 US presidents during the Queen’s 69-year reign – from Harry S Truman to Mr Biden.

Mr Biden, who is in the UK for the G7 summit, will be the 13th American leader to meet the monarch, with Lyndon B Johnson the only one the Queen has not met.

It comes as President Biden today said he did not want to hold a joint press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G7 because he wasn’t interested in a ‘contest’ after he raises serious issues with his counterpart.

‘This is not a contest about who can do better in front of a press conference or try to embarrass each other,’ Biden said at a press conference at the end of the G7 summit. 

He spoke after the White House announced Biden would address the media solo following the summit meeting in Geneva. 

He spoke as he declared the U.S. and western nations to be in a ‘contest with autocrats’ for the support of people around the world.

He said a joint event with Putin could be a distraction from his substantive goals. 

‘I don’t want to get into being diverted by did they shake hands who talked the most and the rest,’ he told reporters.

‘He can say what he thinks the meeting is about and I will say what I think the meeting was about. That’s how I’m going to handle it,’ Biden declared.

‘Russia has engaged in activities which we believe are contrary to international norms. But they have also bitten off some real problems they’re going to have problems chewing on,’ Biden said. 

Asked why he believed Putin hadn’t changed his posture, Biden replied: ‘He’s Vladimir Putin.’ 

He also responded to the latest comments from Putin on Russian state television in response to U.S. concerns about ransomware hackers said to be based in Russia. 

‘That’s potentially a good sign of progress,’ Biden said, adding he had been updated on the topic en route to have tea with The Queen and then head on to Brussels.

Said Putin: ‘If we agree to extradite criminals, then of course Russia will do that, we will do that, but only if the other side, in this case the United States, agrees to the same and will extradite the criminals in question to the Russian Federation,’ Putin is said, according to the Interfax news agency. 

‘I’m committed to holding them accountable,’ Biden said, on the subject of such people being harbored in the U.S.

The U.S. doesn’t have a functioning extradition treaty with the U.S. – although there is an 1893 treaty that has not been abrogated. 

The series of questions about Putin were an indication of how the upcoming storyline is eclipsing the pledges of goodwill and cooperation among the leading economic nations.

‘America is back at the table,’ Biden declared. 

Meanwhile Boris Johnson today hailed a ‘big step to vaccinating the world’ as he confirmed the G7 has agreed to donate a billion Covid vaccine doses to poorer countries.

Wrapping up the summit in Cornwall, the PM said leaders at the summit in Cornwall have pledged a combination of jabs and money to pay for them by next year.

The commitment includes 100million doses from the UK and 500million from the US, with Mr Johnson insisting they are going ‘flat out’ to protect populations.

However, campaigners have warned that the numbers are far from enough to prevent the virus from running riot among some of the globe’s most vulnerable populations – and potentially sparking new problems in richer countries.   

Meanwhile, Sir David Attenborough today pleaded with G7 leaders to show the ‘will’ to save humanity from climate change.

The celebrated television naturalist said the scientific response to the Covid-19 pandemic demonstrated what was possible when there was a ‘clear and urgent’ goal.

But in a video speech to the summit in Cornwall he warned that the fight against climate change was now as much a ‘political and communications’ challenge as a scientific one. 

Speaking at the press conference in Cornwall, Mr Johnson denied that the number of vaccines being donated amounted to a moral failure.

‘This is another billion made up of a massive contribution by the United States and other friends,’ he said.  

‘Already of the 1.5 billion vaccines that have been distributed around the world, I think that people in this country should be very proud that half a billion of them are as a result of the actions taken by the UK Government in doing that deal with the Oxford scientists and AstraZeneca to distribute it at cost.’

He added that ‘we are going flat out and we are producing vaccines as fast as we can, and distributing them as fast as we can’. 

The target to vaccinate the world by the end of next year will be done ‘very largely thanks to the efforts of the countries who have come here today’, according to Mr Johnson.  

Sir David told the leaders gathered in Carbis Bay: ‘The scientific collaboration on Covid treatment and vaccines showed just how much we can achieve together when the goal is clear and urgent.

‘We know in detail what is happening to our planet. And we know all of the things we need to do during this decade.

‘Tackling climate change is now as much a political and communications challenge as it is a scientific or technological one.

‘We have the skills to address it in time. All we need is the global will to do so.’

Mr Johnson said he was urging G7 leaders to drive a ‘global green industrial revolution’ to help developing nations reap the benefits of clean economic growth.

The leaders were setting out plans to reverse biodiversity loss and to fund infrastructure development around the world.

Mr Johnson also launched a £500million ‘blue planet fund’ to protect the world’s oceans and marine life.

Mixed in with the environmental intentions of the G7 is an attempt to reassert the values of the world’s leading democracies.

The ‘build back better for the world’ plan will bring together G7 countries to develop an offer for high-quality financing for vital infrastructure, from railways in Africa to wind farms in Asia.

The move is part of an attempt to counter Beijing’s ‘belt and road’ initiative which has spread Chinese influence around the globe.

The new approach is intended to give developing countries access to more, better and faster finance, while accelerating the global shift to renewable energy and sustainable technology.

G7 nations are expected to commit to almost halving their emissions by 2030 relative to 2010, a commitment already exceeded by the UK which has promised a 58 per cent cut.

The countries will set out the action they will take to slash carbon emissions, including measures like ending all unabated coal use as soon as possible, halting almost all direct government support for the fossil fuel energy sector overseas and phasing out petrol and diesel cars.

The G7 will also endorse a nature compact, aimed at halting and reversing biodiversity loss by 2030 – including supporting the global target to conserve or protect at least 30 per cent of land and oceans by the end of the decade.

The UK’s blue planet fund will offer £500million to help countries including Ghana, Indonesia and Pacific island states tackle unsustainable fishing, protect and restore coastal ecosystems like mangroves and coral reefs, and reduce marine pollution.

The fund will run for at least five years. 

Under the vaccine gifting plan, the UK will start donating vaccines within weeks, providing five million doses to countries in need by the end of September.

Around 25million more jabs will be distributed by the end of the year and the remainder will follow in 2022. The cost cannot be precisely calculated as it will depend what vaccines are gifted – but it could top £1billion. 

Mr Johnson is urging other leaders at the G7 summit in Cornwall to follow his example. Joe Biden has already promised to donate half a billion Pfizer vaccines for 92 low and lower-middle income countries and the African Union. 

But vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi confirmed this morning that the British public are still being prioritised.  

Eighty per cent of the 100million doses will go to the Covax initiative, which is distributing vaccines to poorer nations. The remainder will be shared bilaterally with countries in need.

The donation will count as extra spending on top of the £10billion committed to the new foreign aid target of 0.5 per cent of gross domestic product.

Harry and Meghan ‘have no regrets’ about interviews ‘but are doing their utmost to keep the peace’, source claims – after Queen ditches ‘never complain, never explain’ policy to combat ‘mistruths’

By James Robinson for MailOnline and Kate Mansey for Mail on Sunday

Harry and Meghan want to ‘keep the peace’ with the Royal Family, but have ‘no regrets’ about doing their bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey, it has been reported.

Insiders say the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are ‘trying their utmost to maintain a good relationship’ with the Queen in order to ‘keep the peace’ within the family, according to Us Magazine.

It comes as today it was revealed by The Mail on Sunday that the Queen will no longer remain silent when Harry and Meghan allow ‘mistruths’ about the Royal Family to circulate in the public domain.

But, extending a rare olive branch in the Transatlantic briefing war between the two sides, sources in the US suggest the couple are trying to want move past the fallout from their interview with Oprah.

A source told Us Magazine: ‘It’s no secret that the last year Harry and Meghan have been at war with the royals.

‘All is not forgiven, but after all the backlash regarding their interviews — which by the way, the pair have no regrets about — they’re trying their utmost to maintain a good relationship with the queen in order to keep the peace.’ 

The source also said that the Sussexes want ‘to avoid being demoted as a royal at all cost and that the ‘worst-case scenario, losing their titles.’

It comes as the Mail on Sunday today revealed, in a dramatic departure from her longstanding ‘never complain, never explain’ policy, that Her Majesty has instructed courtiers to correct any statements which misrepresent her private conversations or those of other senior Royals.

The extraordinary move demonstrates the Queen‘s exasperation at the relentless briefings that allies of the Duke and Duchess have been giving to the media and follows the dispute over Harry and Meghan’s choice of name for their new daughter.

An insider said the latest bruising episode had sent the Queen ‘over the edge’.

The feud began when US-based journalists favoured by supporters of Harry and Meghan reported that the couple had ‘asked permission’ to name their daughter Lilibet, a deeply personal childhood nickname of the Queen that was used by very close relatives, including her late husband Prince Philip.

But a Royal insider described the conversation between Harry and his grandmother as ‘a telling, not an asking’ – confirming a BBC report last week which said the Sussexes had not asked the Queen if she had any objection to their choice of name. Harry and Meghan reacted furiously, instructing their lawyers to contest the BBC story, which they described as ‘false and defamatory’.

Sources say the Queen’s more robust response to the tsunami of media briefings from allies of the Sussexes will go beyond the Lilibet story.

‘This is about whether or not what is being reported is an accurate version of what actually happened,’ said the insider.

The 95-year-old Monarch put aside the controversy yesterday as she smiled and even tapped her feet to the music during Trooping the Colour, her annual birthday parade.

After hosting a reception at the G7 summit on Friday – where she entertained world leaders by cutting a cake with a sword and joked as a team photograph was taken, ‘Are you supposed to look as if you’re enjoying yourself?’ – she will today welcome US President Joe Biden and his First Lady, Jill, to Windsor Castle.

Harry and Meghan, who are now based in California, announced the arrival of their daughter last Sunday, prompting warm messages of congratulations from the Queen, Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

The Mail on Sunday understands that Harry also sent a text message to Kate, cementing her role as a bridge between him and his brother that appeared to be forged at Prince Philip’s funeral in April.

But the mood began to sour with an article in the New York Post which said it had been ‘told’ by unnamed sources that ‘Harry called the Queen for permission to name his daughter Lilibet’.

The story was soon picked up by other media outlets, infuriating the Palace to the extent that a high-ranking, but unnamed, Palace source did not dispute claims by a BBC reporter that no such permission had been sought.

The impact was immediate and incendiary. The BBC story, effectively ‘killed’ the New York Post’s account and led, within hours, to the letter from Harry and Meghan’s lawyers.

A spokesman for the couple said: ‘The Duke spoke with his family in advance of the announcement. In fact, his grandmother was the first family member he called. During that conversation, he shared their hope of naming Lilibet in her honour. Had she not been supportive, they would not have used the name.’

However, there was further irritation at the Palace when friends of Harry and Meghan suggested to US journalists that the Queen had been introduced to Lilibet over a video call.

The insider last night denied that, stating, ‘No video call has taken place’, adding: ‘Friends of the Sussexes appear to have given misleading briefings to journalists about what the Queen had said and that took the whole thing over the edge. The Palace couldn’t deny the story that this was a mistruth.’ Ironically, Harry has spoken out against the ‘barrage of mistruths’ on social media.

While the Palace has largely sought to mollify Harry and Meghan – even amid the grenades thrown during their interview with Oprah Winfrey in March and Harry’s subsequent TV series on mental health – the Queen and other senior Royals have shown there is a limit to their patience.

After Harry and Meghan claimed there was racism in the Royal Household, William snapped: ‘We’re very much not a racist family.’ And Buckingham Palace –which is investigating the claims – pointedly said ‘recollections may vary’.

MailOnline has today contacted representatives of the Sussexes for comment.