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President Joe Biden caused a stir on Monday when he appeared to be breaking royal protocol by insulting King Charles III. during an arrival ceremony at Windsor Castle, while the king appeared to lose his composure after one of the Welsh guards at the castle apparently spent too much time engaging the president in conversation.
Mr Biden, who arrived in the UK late Sunday and spent the night at the US Embassy in London, concluded the day’s appointments with a meeting with the King and a group of business leaders and several US and UK officials.
After Mr Biden landed by helicopter at the Windsor grounds for their first face-to-face meeting since Charles last year, he raised eyebrows with longtime palace watchers by placing his hand on the monarch’s elbow as the two men shook hands.
King Charles seems keen on taking President Biden away while the US leader chatted with a Guardsman
(via Portal)
After this warm greeting, the President placed his hand on the King’s back as he surveyed the assembled Welsh Guards in the Windsor grounds, with the monarch returning a similar gesture a short time later.
Both men appeared to be smiling and in good spirits as they strolled around the castle grounds, with Charles once attempting to hustle Mr Biden as they surveyed the honor guard.
Mr. Biden, who was chatting to one of the soldiers he was appraising, ignored the monarch’s polite request to move on, and the king appeared to snap and gesture at the guard after the president moved on.
Although protocol says the monarch is generally not to be touched, a Buckingham Palace source told People Mr Biden had not broken protocol and said the king was “completely satisfied” with the encounter.
Charles and Biden share a joke at Windsor Castle
(Chris Jackson/Getty Images)
“What a wonderful symbol of warmth and affection between individuals and their nations,” they said.
The King and Mr Biden have met on numerous occasions during their time in public life, with their last two meetings during the Cop26 summit in Glasgow and at a reception at Buckingham Palace during the 2021 G7 summit.
Both talked about their respective efforts to fight climate change, and the same topic was on the agenda of Mr Biden’s visit to the King.
Both men participated in what the White House has dubbed a “climate engagement,” which was attended by His Majesty and a host of “philanthropists and investors,” including CEOs of Bank of America, Prudential and BlackRock, and the US climate commissioner John Kerry and Grant Shapps, the UK Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero.
Mr Shapps told reporters that UK officials were “very pleased” that the Inflation Reduction Act signed by Mr Biden last year had “advanced clean energy targets”.
The president appeared to be breaking protocol by putting his hand on the king’s back, although the palace was quoted as saying the monarch was “entirely pleased” with the gesture
(AP)
Mr Biden’s audience with the King came immediately after a 42-minute visit to No 10 Downing Street for tea with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Sitting in the back garden with the PM, Mr Biden said US-UK relations continue to be “developing in a positive way” and are “rock solid”.
Joe Biden meets the King at Windsor Castle
The US President, who has met his British counterpart five times in the past five months, quipped it was “nice to be back” and noted that he and Mr Sunak “only met once a month”.
For his part, the British Prime Minister said he and Mr Biden would use the brief bilateral meeting to discuss “how we strengthen our cooperation” and “shared economic security for the benefit of our citizens”.
Meeting of Biden and Rishi Sunak at 10 Downing Street
(EPA)
“We are two of the strongest allies in this alliance and I know that we want to do everything we can to strengthen Euro-Atlantic security,” he said.
After meeting the King, Mr Biden traveled from London to Vilnius, where he will attend the NATO leaders’ summit, before traveling to Helsinki for a meeting with Nordic leaders.