Biden in London: Queen Elizabeth II was ‘respectable, honorable and all about service’

Biden took his time signing a prolonged message within the condolence e book. Jill Biden signed a separate condolence e book for chief spouses at Lancaster House, writing, partially, “Queen Elizabeth II lived her life for the individuals she served with knowledge and style. We will always remember her heat, kindness, and the conversations we shared.”

The Bidens had been joined earlier throughout their go to to Westminster Hall by Jane Hartley, the US ambassador to the UK. The President was seen making the signal of the cross.

The Bidens are additionally attending a reception on Sunday at Buckingham Palace for visiting overseas leaders hosted by Britain’s new king, Charles III.

The President arrived in London late Saturday for a two-day go to honoring the long-reigning monarch, whom he says “outlined an period.”

Biden is becoming a member of leaders from dozens of different nations to pay their respects to the late sovereign, whom he met final 12 months and declared afterward reminded him of his personal mom.

For Biden, it’s a second to mirror on a monarch who embodied a dedication to public service and whose life charted the most important historic occasions of the final 100 years.

Biden and the Queen first met in 1982, when as a younger senator, Biden’s personal Irish American mom instructed him: “Don’t you bow all the way down to her.”

He did not bow down then, or when he met the Queen as president final 12 months whereas attending a Group of seven summit in England. But his respect for a lady whose fidelity on the world stage over the past century was unparalleled has been plain.

“She was an ideal woman. We’re so delighted we acquired to fulfill her,” Biden mentioned on the day that she died.

The Queen’s shock choice final 12 months to journey to the Cornish coast to fulfill world leaders on the G7 summit was a sign of her want to stay engaged in international affairs.

Later that week, when she hosted Biden and the primary woman for tea at Windsor Castle, she inquired about two authoritarian leaders, Presidents Xi Jinping of China and Vladimir Putin of Russia, the President informed reporters afterward.

“She had such curiosity. She needed to know all about American politics, what was occurring. So, she put us comfortable,” Jill Biden mentioned not too long ago in an interview with NBC.

At Sunday night’s reception, Biden is seeing Charles for the primary time since he grew to become King. The two males have met beforehand and spoke final week by cellphone.

As Prince of Wales, Charles was a passionate campaigner for sure points Biden has additionally championed, together with combating local weather change. It stays to be seen how concerned the brand new King might be on these points going ahead.

Relatively shut in age — Charles is 73, Biden is 79 — the 2 males have a shared expertise of being within the public eye for many years earlier than assuming their present roles as heads of state.

On his name with the King, Biden “conveyed the good admiration of the American individuals for the Queen, whose dignity and fidelity deepened the enduring friendship and particular relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom,” the White House mentioned. “President Biden conveyed his want to proceed a detailed relationship with the King.”

White House aides have declined to supply particular safety particulars for the President’s go to however say they’re working properly with their British counterparts to make sure the calls for of presidential safety are met.

Plans for the Queen’s funeral have been in place for years, permitting US advisers larger perception into exactly what’s going to occur over the approaching days as they make safety preparations. The White House mentioned it acquired an invite just for the President and first woman, making for a slimmed-down American footprint.

Biden traveled along with his nationwide safety adviser, communications director and different private aides aboard Air Force One to London.

When experiences emerged final week that world leaders could be required to trip on a bus to the funeral, US officers had been skeptical and shot down the suggestion Biden that will journey to Westminster Abbey in a coach.

In 2018, when different world leaders traveled collectively in a bus to a World War I memorial in Paris, then-US President Donald Trump traveled individually in his personal automobile. The White House defined on the time that the separate journey was “as a consequence of safety protocols.”

The Queen’s demise got here at a second of financial and political turmoil for the United Kingdom. A brand new prime minister, Liz Truss, entered workplace after months of uncertainty following the choice of her predecessor, Boris Johnson, to step down.

Truss invited a number of visiting world leaders to fulfill individually at 10 Downing Street this weekend. In the position for under a bit greater than per week, it is going to be Truss’ first time assembly head to head with lots of her overseas counterparts.

While her workplace initially mentioned Biden could be among the many leaders visiting Downing Street, it was later introduced that Truss and the President would meet for formal bilateral talks on Wednesday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

It was solely two days after Truss traveled to Balmoral Castle in Scotland to formally settle for the Queen’s appointment as prime minister that the long-reigning monarch handed away. Since then, the nation has been in a proper interval of mourning.

Truss inherited a deep financial disaster, fueled by excessive inflation and hovering vitality prices, that has led to fears the UK might quickly enter a chronic recession. The challenges have been aggravated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has prompted volatility in oil and gasoline markets.

While few within the Biden administration shed tears at Johnson’s resignation– Biden as soon as described him because the “bodily and emotional clone” of Trump — the US and the UK had been deeply aligned of their method to Russia beneath his management.

White House officers anticipate that cooperation will proceed beneath Truss, at the same time as she comes beneath strain to ease financial pressures at residence.

Less sure, nonetheless, is whether or not Truss’s hard-line method to Brexit will bitter relations with Biden. The President has taken a private curiosity within the explicit subject of the Northern Ireland Protocol, a post-Brexit association that requires further checks on items transferring between Northern Ireland and the remainder of the UK.

The guidelines had been designed to maintain the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland open and keep away from a return to sectarian violence. But Truss has moved to rewrite these guidelines, inflicting deep anxiousness in each Brussels and Washington.

Biden, who makes frequent references to his Irish ancestry, has made his views clear on the problem, despite the fact that it doesn’t immediately contain the United States. Congressional Democrats have equally expressed concern over any steps that might reignite the Northern Ireland battle.

In their first cellphone name as counterparts earlier this month, Biden raised the matter with Truss, based on the White House. A US readout of their dialog mentioned they mentioned a “shared dedication to defending the positive aspects of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement and the significance of reaching a negotiated settlement with the European Union on the Northern Ireland Protocol.”

This story and headline have been up to date.