THE Queen will welcome US President Joe Biden to Windsor with a Guard of Honour and tea at the castle.
The American leader and First Lady Jill Biden will visit Her Majesty’s Berkshire royal residence after attending the G7 summit in Cornwall.
Read our Royal Family live blog for the latest updates
The couple met the Queen on Friday when she attended a reception for G7 leaders at the Eden Project.
Both Joe and Jill, along with Emmanuel Macron were left chuckling as Her Majesty cracked jokes during the event, asking them “Are you supposed to be looking as if you’re enjoying yourself?” as they posed for a photo.
Their latest meeting comes the day after the Queen received her official birthday gift from the nation’s armed forces – a ceremony of pomp and pageantry in her honour – which was held at the castle.
The traditional Trooping the Colour ceremony, which is normally staged in London, was ruled out for the second successive year because of the threat of coronavirus.
Meanwhile, today’s carefully-choreographed arrangements to welcome Mr Biden will echo the welcome given to Donald Trump in 2018, when the controversial then-US president travelled to Windsor to meet the monarch.
Mr Trump and the Queen had afternoon tea together in the castle’s Oak Room, with the meeting lasting longer than expected.
It was due to last around half-an-hour, but overran by almost 20 minutes.
In 2008, when then US president George W Bush met with the monarch at Windsor, he enjoyed a traditional English afternoon spread of tea, small sandwiches and cakes in the White Drawing Room.
The Queen will greet the Bidens at the dais in the castle’s quadrangle.
A Guard of Honour formed of The Queen’s Company First Battalion Grenadier Guards will give a Royal Salute, and the US national anthem will be played.
Mr Biden will then accompany the Officer Commanding the Guard of Honour, Major James Taylor, and Major General Christopher Ghika to inspect the Honour Guard, before returning to the dais to watch the military march-past with the Queen and First Lady.
In 2018, the Queen accompanied Mr Trump to inspect the Guard of Honour at Windsor.
Escorting a visiting head of state to inspect the troops is a role which usually fell to the late Duke of Edinburgh, before he retired in 2017.
There have been 14 US presidents during the Queen’s 69-year reign – from Harry S Truman to Mr Biden.
Mr Biden, who is in the UK for the G7 summit, will be the 13th American leader to meet the monarch, with Lyndon B Johnson the only one the Queen has not met.
