President Biden met with new British Prime Minister Liz Truss as well as King Charles III while in London for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth.
As he stood before the coffin, Biden took a deep breath before making the sign of the cross and then placing his hand over his heart. With the visit, the president and first lady Jill Biden, became the latest — and highest profile — visitors to the royal lying in state that has drawn thousands of people in queues stretching for miles.
White House officials said Biden’s trip would largely be a show of respect for the queen and the British people rather than a political or diplomatic mission, even as the gathering of hundreds of heads of state and dignitaries could surface a number of global flash points and highlight emerging tensions between London and Washington.
But the president, who previously chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and regularly boasts of the personal relationships he has built with foreign officials over his half-century in public life, could find it difficult to avoid talking policy when surrounded by his colleagues on the world stage.