Joe Biden will finally meet King Charles after sending his wife Jill to the Coronation as White House announces official visit by the President to Britain for talks with Rishi Sunak next week
- The US president will arrive in Britain on July 9 before heading to the Baltic
- The visit will be the first time he has met Charles since he was crowned
Joe Biden will meet King Charles and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak when he visits the UK next week, the White House confirmed today.
The US president will arrive in Britain on July 9 before heading to the Baltic two days later for talks likely to focus on Russia and the Ukraine war.
The visit will be the first time he has met Charles since he was crowned, with the president having sent his wife, Dr Jill Biden, to the coronation.
He attended the funeral of Elizabeth II last year and met Charles at the Cop26 environmental conference.
The visit will also come less than a month after the 80-year-old leader bemused a crowd at a speech in New England by saying: ‘God save the queen, man.’
It will also mark another chance for the Prime Minister to defrost transatlantic relations, after his visit to the White House last month.
It will be the sixth time the two leaders have met since Sunak took office in October.
The US president will spend four days in Britain from July 9 before heading to the Baltic for talks about the war in Ukraine.
The visit will be the first time he has met Charles since he was crowned, with the president having sent his wife, Dr Jill Biden, to the coronation.
He attended the funeral of Elizabeth II last year (above) and met Charles at the Cop26 environmental conference (below)
A statement from White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said: ‘President Biden is scheduled to travel to the United Kingdom, Lithuania, and Finland from July 9-13.
‘President Biden will first travel to London, United Kingdom for engagements with King Charles III and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to further strengthen the close relationship between our nations.
‘The President will then travel to Vilnius, Lithuania from July 11-12 to attend the 74th Nato Summit.
‘On July 13, President Biden will visit Helsinki, Finland for a US-Nordic Leaders Summit. More details about the trip will be announced soon.’
The apparently short trip by Mr Biden comes after the US and the UK announced a new partnership, the ‘Atlantic Declaration’, to bolster economic security.
Announced during Mr Sunak’s visit to the White House, it included commitments on easing trade barriers, closer defence industry ties and a data protection deal.
While both sides used that Washington visit to hail the strength of US-UK ties, Mr Biden has not been afraid of occasionally criticising London.
Mr Biden in May claimed that he visited the island of Ireland earlier this year to ensure the ‘Brits didn’t screw around’, amid ongoing US concern about the impact of Brexit on the peace process.
During that visit, the President told the Irish parliament that he believed the UK should be working more closely with the administration in Dublin to support Northern Ireland.
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