Biden plans to attend Queen Elizabeth II’s Funeral
Newslooks- WASHINGTON
U.S. President Joe Biden told reporters on Friday that he planned to attend the funeral for Queen Elizabeth II.
Biden was the 13th and final U.S. president to meet the woman whose reign spanned seven decades. The queen had met every American president since Dwight Eisenhower, with the exception of Lyndon Johnson. That’s because Johnson did not visit Britain during his presidency.
Biden and first lady Jill Biden said the queen’s “legacy will loom large in the pages of British history, and in the story of our world.”
Every living former U.S. president — Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump — joined Biden in mourning her passing and sending condolences to her family.
Biden first met the queen in 1982 as a U.S. senator traveling in the U.K. with a delegation from Congress. He last saw her in 2021, several months after he became president, while attending a world leaders’ summit in southwestern England.
She mingled with Group of Seven leaders at a reception that she and other royals hosted at an indoor rainforest. After the summit, the Bidens traveled to Windsor Castle, near London, at the queen’s invitation for a private audience.
The queen was a 25-year-old princess when she came to Washington in 1951 and stayed with President Harry Truman and his family. She met Herbert Hoover in 1957, more than 20 years after he left office.
Biden and his trademark aviator sunglasses met the queen at Windsor Castle on a sweltering afternoon in June 2021.
Biden emerged from a black car wearing his shades, stepped onto a covered dais where the queen waited, and, with his wife, posed with the queen as the two countries’ national anthems played.
After walking around the courtyard to inspect the honor guard, he entered the castle for tea.
Back at the airport, Biden told journalists that the queen was “very gracious” and had asked him about the leaders of China and Russia.
While it’s generally frowned upon to discuss one’s private talks with the queen, Biden continued.
“I don’t think she’ll be insulted, but she reminded me of my mother,” he said.
Biden said he also had invited the queen to visit the White House.
