President Biden to Visit Britain and Meet with King Charles III

President Biden to Visit Britain and Meet with King Charles III President Joe Biden is set to visit Britain from July 9-13, 2021 to meet with King Charles III and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for the first time since the king’s coronation in May. The trip will also include visits to Lithuania for the NATO summit and then Helsinki, Finland for a U.S.-Nordic Leaders Summit. The White House said in a statement that the purpose of the visit is to “further strengthen the close relationship between our nations”.

President Biden has previously met with King Charles III before he became monarch and before Biden became president, including a 2015 meeting at the White House with then President Barack Obama, as well as attending Queen Elizabeth II's funeral last year. Prior to the coronation in May, Biden had several conversations with the king since he took the throne, including after the death of his mother, but he did not attend the coronation or the April visit to Ireland and Northern Ireland, part of Britain, to celebrate the anniversary of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.

In June, Biden held a joint press conference with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at the White House. Sunak, a conservative, took office in Oct. 2022, the first prime minister appointed by Charles after Queen Elizabeth II appointed Liz Truss as prime minister two days before she died. Truss stepped down less than two months in the role, the shortest tenure of any prime minister in history, and Sunak then assumed the role. The upcoming visit to Britain will be a chance for Biden and Sunak to meet in person and further strengthen the diplomatic ties between the two nations. The president has made it clear that the U.S. is looking to build robust relations with its European allies and the visit is seen as a step in the right direction.