Queen Elizabeth, 95, has met every American president since World War II, with the exception of Lyndon Johnson.
The visit on Sunday — which is expected to include an arrival ceremony with a review of troops and the playing of the two countries’ national anthems — comes three days after what would have been the queen’s late husband’s 100th birthday.
But in the U.K., the media has focused more on Biden’s Irish Roman Catholic heritage than on the queen’s lingering grief or the president’s more modest beginnings.
His first wife and baby daughter died in a car crash in 1972 and one of his adult sons, Beau, died in 2015, of brain cancer.
“There will come a day, I promise you, when the thought of your son, or daughter, or your wife or your husband, brings a smile to your lips before it brings a tear to your eye,” he says repeatedly when he speaks to those who have lost someone.
Two days later, the United Kingdom celebrated the queen’s birthday, a date Secretary of State Antony Blinken marked in a statement.
Biden traveled to Europe to attend several meetings — the G-7, NATO and summits with European Union and European Council leaders — in England and Belgium.
“A meeting with the queen is highly sought after by U.S.
For Biden, sticking to protocols will be one of the main objectives.
Later, the queen spoke to the Bidens at a reception at Eden Project, an eco-park that proclaims it houses the largest rainforest in captivity.