Queen to meet President Joe Biden, palace announces

The Queen will meet US President Joe Biden when he visits the UK for the G7 summit later this month, Buckingham Palace has announced.

The head of state will welcome the American leader and First Lady Jill Biden to Windsor Castle on Sunday June 13.

Mr Biden is due to attend the G7 gathering in Cornwall, which will be held in Carbis Bay from June 11-13.

The Queen met Mr Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump, when he made a state visit to the UK in June 2019, in the last days of Theresa May’s premiership.

The President and First Lady sent their condolences to the Queen following the death of her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, in April.

Mr Biden and his wife said they were keeping the royal family “in our hearts during this time”.

Having taken up his post in the Oval Office, the coronavirus pandemic has limited opportunities for Mr Biden to travel outside the US, meaning the G7 gathering will be his first foreign engagement in person.

Buckingham Palace said in a short statement: “The Queen will meet the President of the United States of America and First Lady Jill Biden at Windsor Castle on Sunday 13th June 2021.”

There is speculation that the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall will also meet the American couple at some point during their visit to the UK.

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

Mr Biden will become the 13th American leader to meet the monarch – the only one the Queen did not meet was Lyndon B Johnson.

After attending the G7 gathering, when world leaders are expected to discuss a range of issues from climate change to tackling the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, Mr Biden will head to Brussels to join a Nato summit.

He is also scheduled to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Switzerland on June 16 for talks on repairing relations between Washington and Moscow.