Biden says he will attend Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral

US President Joe Biden has said he will attend the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. “Yes,” Biden told reporters on Friday when asked if he planned to attend the funeral, the details of which were not announced by Buckingham Palace.

“I don’t know the details yet, but I will,” Biden said. He told reporters that he still had not spoken to King Charles III after the queen’s death. “I know him. I did not talk to him. I haven’t called him yet.”

THE CNN reported on Friday that White House aides are making initial preparations for Biden to travel to London to attend the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. They only planned to announce her presence after the palace revealed how the ceremony would take place, according to sources.

The president will likely be accompanied by an official delegation. Biden remembered the queen on Thursday as a “grand lady” who “defined an era”. “We are delighted to meet you,” Biden told British Embassy officials in Washington after signing a book of condolences.

American flags at the White House, other federal buildings, military facilities and embassies abroad remained at half-mast on Friday after Biden ordered them to be lowered “until the day of internment.”

In a statement released jointly with his wife, First Lady Jill Biden, the president called the Queen “a constant presence and a source of comfort and pride for generations of Britons, including many who have never known their country without her.”

As a young senator, Biden met the Queen in 1982. They met again last year when she traveled to the Group of 7 summit in Cornwall. She later hosted the Bidens at Windsor Castle for tea, where she asked the president about Presidents Xi Jinping of China and Vladimir Putin of Russia, two authoritarians who caused tensions through military aggression.

Biden was effusive in describing their interaction. “I don’t think she would have been insulted, but she reminded me of my mother, her look and her generosity,” Biden said. “She is extremely graceful; this is not surprising, but we had a great conversation.”

The White House declined to elaborate on Biden’s plans to attend the queen’s funeral, which is due to take place in the coming weeks. “There is a process, there is a protocol here, an official protocol through which leaders are invited, so we are not going to preempt that protocol,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters aboard Air Force One on Friday. thursday (9).

Pressed again, she reiterated that the White House will follow protocol, but added that the Queen’s loss “will be felt by people all over the world”, calling her a “constant presence”. “Our nations and our people have a strong bond and I think I speak for the country when I say our thoughts are with the people of the UK,” Jean-Pierre said.

For previous high-profile funerals, official US delegations have included current and former US presidents. When Pope John Paul II died, President George W. Bush attended with his father, President George HW Bush, and former President Bill Clinton.

President Barack Obama included George W. Bush, Clinton and former President Jimmy Carter in the official delegation to Nelson Mandela’s funeral. Bush traveled with him to South Africa aboard Air Force One, along with Hillary Clinton.

The last time a British monarch died, the US president did not attend the funeral. President Harry S. Truman sent his Secretary of State Dean Acheson to attend George VI’s funeral in 1952.