They met Friday at the Group of Seven summit, but President Joe Biden and the first lady had an altogether more private meeting with Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II on Sunday at her home in Windsor Castle.
The monarch, 95, received the Bidens for tea at her historic residence about 30 miles west of London. They were greeted with an official Guard of Honor military parade, which gave a royal salute and played the U.S. national anthem.
Biden stood next to the queen in the sunshine, wearing his aviator sunglasses, before inspecting the troops in the quadrangle of Windsor Castle, last seen on television during the somber funeral ceremony for her husband, Prince Philip, who died at 99 in April.
The queen, who has stoically continued with her official duties since then, met Biden alongside other world leaders and their spouses Friday at the G-7 summit by the seaside in Cornwall in southwest England.
There, she amused leaders when she quipped during a photo call: “Are you supposed to be looking as if you’re enjoying yourselves?”
Biden, who first met the queen in 1982 as a Democratic senator from Delaware, said after the meeting that she was “extremely gracious.”
“I don’t think she’ll be insulted, but she reminded me of my mother,” Biden said as he boarded Air Force One, remarking on “the look of her and the generosity.” Biden also confirmed that he invited her to visit the White House.
