White House backtracks on Biden state visit to London to meet Charles

EXCLUSIVE President Joe Biden snubs King Charles III again: When is a state visit not a state visit? When the White House botches the announcement of a 24-hour trip to London

• In April, the White House said Biden would make a state visit to meet King Charles in lieu of his attendance at the coronation
• But officials have now told DailyMail.com that invitation was not for an official state visit at all
• Instead, Biden will meet Charles next month during a brief stop in London

In April, the White House was under pressure to explain why President Joe Biden would not be attending the coronation of King Charles III in London.

Was it a snub by the famously pro-Irish president?

Not at all, said his spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre. The two heads of state had just spoken by phone and the king had invited the president for a state visit very soon.

But when Biden visits London next month it will be a trip shoehorned into a European swing centered around a N.A.T.O. summit. There will be no Buckingham Palace banquet or 82-gun salute as there was four years ago when President Donald Trump was afforded the honor of a full state visit.

DailyMail.com can reveal that no invitation for a state visit was ever extended when Biden spoke with King Charles.

President Joe Biden will meet King Charles III during a visit to the U.K. next month, according to a U.S. official, but the trip will fall short of being a ‘state visit’

Instead, the president is expected to spend less than 24 hours in London before flying on to Vilnius, Lithuania, to meet N.A.T.O. allies. 

A full state visit would usually last for closer to four days. And need a year of planning, rather than a three-month lead in.

‘There was never an invitation for a state visit,’ said a London source. ‘The point was to try to get away from headlines about Biden snubbing Charles over the coronation, and show that the two had a decent relationship.

‘And the White House managed to mess it up.’ 

A U.S. official confirmed that Biden would still meet King Charles. 

In the meantime, British officials have swung into action to tamp down more headlines about Biden snubs and spare the White House more blushes.

London’s newspapers have begun describing the trip as a ‘mini state visit.’ 

But the stripped-down visit will reignite questions about whether Biden is anti-British. During an April trip he spent less than 24 hours in British Northern Ireland, before spending the bulk of his time in the Republic of Ireland.

He triggered outrage when he joked that he was visiting to ensure that the Brits did not ‘screw around’ with the Good Friday Agreement that ended decades of violence. 

This will be the first time Biden has met Charles since he was crowned in May. However they have met before. They are seen here in 2021 during the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow

Biden’s visit contrasts with President Donald Trump’s 2019 state visit, when he was afforded the full pomp of the British Royal Family including a Buckingham Palace banquet

The Bidens also met the late Queen in 2021 when the G7 Summit was held in Cornwall, U.K.

And his administration has killed off any immediate prospect of a U.S.-U.K. deal, which London had been pursuing after leaving the European Union’s single market.

Then there was his decision not to go to the coronation. Jean-Pierre was quizzed on April 5 about why Biden was sending the first lady in his place.

She responded by describing the warm nature of a 30-minute call between the two a day earlier.

‘He talked about how he enjoyed meeting … visiting the Queen, I should say, back in 2021 … he and the first lady at Windsor. And he hoped to visit again soon,’ she said.

‘Actually, during that call, the King offered for him to come and do a state visit, which the president accepted. And so they will see each other again very soon.’

Yet the official White House readout of the call did not describe an invitation or mention a state visit.

It said instead: ‘The president also conveyed his desire to meet with the King in the United Kingdom at a future date.’ 

Insiders say the Biden visit might more closely resemble Trump’s 2018 visit which included less formal meetings with the Queen and other royals

A senior U.S. official confirmed that the trip would not be a state visit.

‘POTUS will have an engagement with the King on his next trip to the UK as we announced earlier this year but it won’t be a State visit,’ they said, using an abbreviation for ‘President of the United States.’ 

Biden is also expected to meet with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

In contrast, the full pomp of the British Royal Family was on show when Trump made a state visit in June 2019. 

His visit lasted three days and he was treated to a state banquet at Buckingham Palace, where guests dined on steamed halibut with watercress mousse and saddle of lamb. 

Foreign leaders are also often invited to stay at Buckingham Palace, although the guest rooms were being renovated at the time of Trump’s visit.

Biden’s visit may more closely resemble the trip made by Trump a year earlier, when he had more informal meetings with the British royals. 

 

 

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