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Sunday, September 18, 2022

President Biden arrives in London to mourn the Queen

By Kevin Liptak, LONDON UK

US president Joe Biden arrived in London late Saturday for a two-day visit honoring Queen Elizabeth II, the long-reigning monarch he says “defined an era.”

Biden is joining leaders from dozens of other nations to pay their respects to the late sovereign, whom he met last year and declared afterward reminded him of his own mother.

On Sunday afternoon, the President and first lady Jill Biden will pay their respects to the Queen, whose coffin has been lying in state at Westminster Hall, before signing a book of condolence and attending a reception for visiting leaders hosted by Britain’s new king, Charles III.

For Biden, it is a moment to reflect on a monarch who embodied a commitment to public service and whose life charted the major historical events of the last 100 years.

Biden and the Queen first met in 1982, when as a young senator, Biden’s own Irish American mother instructed him: “Don’t you bow down to her.”

He didn’t bow down then, or when he met the Queen as President last year while attending a Group of 7 summit in England. But his respect for a woman whose constancy on the world stage over the last century was unparalleled has been plain.

“She was a great lady. We’re so delighted we got to meet her,” Biden said on the day that she died.

The Queen’s surprise decision last year to travel to the Cornish coast to meet world leaders at the G7 summit was a signal of her desire to remain engaged in global affairs.

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

"She had such curiosity. She wanted to know all about American politics, what was happening. So, she put us at ease,” Jill Biden said recently in an interview with NBC.

At Sunday evening’s reception, Biden will see Charles for the first time since he became King. The two men have met previously and spoke last week by phone.

As Prince of Wales, Charles was a passionate campaigner for certain issues Biden has also championed, including combating climate change. It remains to be seen how involved the new King will be on those issues going forward.

Relatively close in age – Charles is 73, Biden is 79 – the two men have a shared experience of being in the public eye for decades before assuming their current roles as heads of state.

On his call with the King, Biden “conveyed the great admiration of the American people for the Queen, whose dignity and constancy deepened the enduring friendship and special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom,” the White House said. “President Biden conveyed his wish to continue a close relationship with the King.”

Security in the British capital is at its highest level in memory as Biden and dozens of other world leaders convene to remember the late Queen, who met 13 sitting US Presidents during her reign.

White House aides have declined to provide specific security details for the President’s visit but say they are working well with their British counterparts to ensure the demands of presidential security are met.

Plans for the Queen’s funeral have been in place for years, allowing US advisers greater insight into precisely what will happen over the coming days as they make security arrangements. The White House said it received an invitation only for the President and first lady, making for a slimmed-down American footprint.

Biden traveled with his national security adviser, communications director and other personal aides aboard Air Force One to London.

When reports emerged last week that world leaders would be required to ride on a bus to the funeral, US officials were skeptical and shot down the suggestion Biden that would travel to Westminster Abbey in a coach.

In 2018, when other world leaders traveled together in a bus to a World War I memorial in Paris, then-US President Donald Trump traveled separately in his own vehicle. The White House explained at the time that the separate trip was “due to security protocols.”

The Queen’s death came at a moment of economic and political turmoil for the United Kingdom. A new prime minister, Liz Truss, entered office after months of uncertainty following the decision of her predecessor, Boris Johnson, to step down. - CNN

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