Biden Pays Homage to Queen Elizabeth, Calling the Monarch ‘Decent, Honorable’

LONDON — With a framed {photograph} of Queen Elizabeth II perched to his proper, President Biden on Sunday paid homage to a monarch he had twice declined to bow to on the recommendation of his mom, however one he had additionally admired.

“She was the identical in particular person as her picture: respectable, honorable and all about service,” Mr. Biden mentioned in the future earlier than the queen’s funeral, after writing a message within the official e book of condolences at Lancaster Home close to Buckingham Palace in London and attending a viewing of her coffin at Westminster Corridor. “It’s a loss that leaves a large gap.”

Queen Elizabeth II had met 13 sitting American presidents throughout her reign, an emblem of the enduring relationship between the onetime colonial energy and the breakaway nation. Greater than 200 years after the USA declared its independence from Britain, many within the nation have been riveted by, and have participated in, the 10-day spectacle of mourning that unfolded after the monarch died Sept. 8.

Throughout the queen’s funeral on Monday, Mr. Biden might be one in every of dozens of world leaders who, for a couple of hours at the very least, will flip the highlight on a queen who dominated for 70 years — almost so long as the president, 79, has lived.

For Mr. Biden, the go to to London was an opportunity to shut the ultimate chapter between one of many extra proud Irish American presidents and a British monarch he had in comparison with his personal mom.

Fittingly, the president couldn’t assist however flip to his heritage when honoring the queen on Sunday.

“Perhaps it’s an excessive amount of, excuse the expression, the Irish of it: It’s about treating folks with dignity,” Mr. Biden mentioned of the queen earlier than attending a reception at Buckingham Palace hosted by King Charles III. “My mom and father thought that everybody, regardless of who they have been, it doesn’t matter what their station, regardless of the place they have been from, deserved to be handled with dignity. And that’s precisely what she communicated.”

However when he first met the monarch, whereas touring with a bunch of senators to Britain in 1982, he introduced with him recommendation from his mom: “Don’t you bow all the way down to her,” she informed him, in line with his memoir, “Guarantees to Preserve.”

There isn’t a requirement that one should bow to the queen, or any royal — although many individuals comply with the custom as courtesy. Previous American presidents, for instance, have gone with a handshake.

Mr. Biden, for his half, has by no means been shy about placing his Irish heritage entrance and middle within the face of British establishments. After he sealed the 2020 presidential election and a BBC reporter requested him for a phrase, the president-elect jokingly responded, “The BBC? I’m Irish,” earlier than strolling away.

When he met Boris Johnson, then prime minister, final 12 months, Mr. Biden informed his aides he had raised the difficulty of tense negotiations between Britain and Northern Eire.

Timothy Meagher, a former college archivist at Catholic College who centered on Irish American historical past, mentioned Mr. Biden’s feedback had clearly been made jokingly, however that they had additionally mirrored a sense of skepticism amongst Irish People of “the keenness for the English monarchy and aristocracy.”

“He may additionally take it as some extent of pleasure that the grandchild of Irish Catholic immigrants might be attending this funeral as the top of state of such a robust nation, a recognition of the nation of his ancestors and a sworn statement to the chances of his personal,” Mr. Meagher mentioned. “There’s a type of good Irish irony on this.”

Mr. Biden, who has attended quite a few funerals throughout his presidency, typically finds consolation in empathizing with these grieving after dropping his first spouse and firstborn daughter to a automotive crash and firstborn son to mind most cancers. He has typically given the eulogy on the ceremonies and has arrived with quite a lot of aides.

However not like different funerals attended by different American presidents, the White Home is intent on sustaining a low profile for the queen’s funeral in order to not politicize the occasion. Mr. Biden additionally has no plans to make public remarks.

In distinction, for the funeral of Nelson Mandela, Barack Obama, then president, flew to South Africa along with his predecessor, George W. Bush, and former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in a type of gathering of American leaders. Mr. Obama additionally gave a speech.

Mr. Biden made the journey along with his spouse, who wrote within the official e book of condolences, “Queen Elizabeth lived her life for the folks she served with knowledge and style. We’ll always remember her heat, kindness and the conversations we shared.”

On Monday, some world leaders, though not Mr. Biden, are anticipated to be bused to the queen’s funeral.

Sally Bedell Smith, who has written quite a few biographies in regards to the British royal household, mentioned the modest preparations mirrored the rarity of a state funeral in Britain — it’s the first since Winston Churchill’s in 1965.

“It’s type of great that different world leaders might be shuttled on buses, a lesson in humility that the queen — herself remarkably humble and modest regardless of her lofty standing — would have appreciated,” Ms. Smith mentioned.

Mr. Biden mentioned that he, too, took notice of the humility with which the queen had carried herself.

“Simply the best way she walked by her workers, simply the best way — simply the best way she acted,” Mr. Biden mentioned, including, “And it was an honor to fulfill her.”