When he last met Queen Elizabeth II, Joe Biden represented the state of Delaware as a Senator — he participated in an audience with the Queen as part of a 1982 visit for a meeting of the British-American Parliamentary Group, according to the White House.
Nearly four decades later, Biden became the 13th President of the United States to meet Her Majesty the Queen in her nearly 70-year reign.
Biden and his wife, First Lady Dr. Jill Biden, arrived Sunday to meet with Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle. The Bidens emerged from a Land Rover on Sunday to meet the awaiting queen, who stood on a dais dressed in a pink hat and floral dress.
The visit took place after Biden participated in a Group of Seven leaders summit in Cornwall, U.K., part of his first overseas trip since assuming the presidency in January.
The president wore his aviator sunmark glasses as he joined the monarch, only to remove them as he inspected the red-uniformed and bearskin-capped Guard of Honor assembled on the castle grounds.
The queen and Dr. Biden stayed on the dais as Biden walked along the guard. During President Donald Trump’s 2018 visit, Trump broke royal protocol by walking ahead of Queen Elizabeth II during the inspection.
Once the inspection was completed, the queen and the Bidens went into the castle for tea.
The Queen, 95, has met every U.S. president in her more than 69-year reign, save for Lyndon Johnson, dating back to Dwight D. Eisenhower.
She also met Herbert Hoover in 1957, more than 20 years after he left office, and former President Harry S. Truman in 1951, shortly before she became Queen following the death of her father in 1952. Then-Princess Elizabeth stayed with President Harry S. Truman and his family at Blair House, where Truman lived while the White House underwent a major renovation.
Read more about the presidential tradition of meeting Queen Elizabeth II.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.