Biden, Johnson in first face-to-face meet ahead of G7 summit
Boris Johnson and wife Carrie Johnson walks with Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden at Carbis Bay, Cornwall, on Thursday. AFP
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson welcomed US President Joe Biden for talks on Thursday, at their first face-to-face meeting on the eve of the G7 leaders' summit in Carbis Bay, Cornwall.
Johnson said "everybody was absolutely thrilled" to see Biden in the seaside resort in southwest England while Biden congratulated the prime minister on his recent marriage, quipping: "We both married above our station."
"It’s gorgeous, I don’t want to go home,” Biden said of the seaside view as he walked with First Lady Jill Biden, Johnson and Johnson's wife Carrie. The two leaders will hold talks before the summit begins on Friday.
Biden will be welcomed with a military Guard of Honor and afternoon tea with Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle when he meets the monarch on Sunday.
The queen will host the president and First Lady Jill Biden in her royal residence on Sunday, after the couple leaves the Group of Seven summit in Cornwall, southwestern England.
The monarch will greet the Bidens in the castle’s quadrangle, where assembled soldiers from the Queen’s Company First Battalion Grenadier Guards will give a royal salute and the US national anthem will be played.
The president will then be invited to inspect the Honor Guard and watch the military march-past with the queen. Biden will be the 13th American leader to meet the monarch, with Lyndon B. Johnson the only one the queen has not met.
Agencies
