Iran Press/ Europe: Video of the greeting between the two men showed Biden punctuating his handshake with the 74-year-old Charles by reaching out to touch the British monarch’s right arm, causing the king to glance down in apparent surprise, nypost reported.
Biden then put his hand on Charles’ back as the two leaders walked to a reviewing stand before greeting some of his majesty’s forces.
The president walked with a noticeably stiff gait, which his physician noted in a report from February had worsened since he broke his foot in late 2020.
While initiating contact with a member of the royal family is frowned upon, Buckingham Palace has insisted there are “no obligatory codes of behavior” for meeting a monarch.
Biden’s visit is his first to the UK since skipping Charles’ coronation in May. There were no visible hard feelings as the president was treated to the royal salute and a rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
The president sent first lady Jill Biden in his stead to Charles’ crowning ceremony, along with his granddaughter Finnegan.
Discussion on Ukraine, before NATO meeting
The heads of state met the day before NATO leaders will gather in Vilnius, Lithuania, for discussions on the alliance and the war in Ukraine.
While British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak traveled to Washington last month, Biden until this week had failed to make a state visit to the United Kingdom.
Biden and Sunak shared a cup of tea at 10 Downing Street earlier Monday as the president affirmed relations between the US and the UK were “rock solid” despite persistent rumors of Biden’s anti-UK views.
Sunak replied that their nations were “two of the firmest allies” in NATO and that both were committed to doing “everything we can to strengthen Euro-Atlantic security.”
At one point during the troop review, Biden paused to chat up one of the Welsh Guards, with the king standing helplessly off to one side and futilely gesturing for the president to follow him.
However, Biden on Sunday had gone further than his British allies in telling CNN’s Fareed Zakaria of “a very difficult decision” to send cluster munitions to Ukraine while stressing it would be “premature” to let the nation join NATO during its war with Russia.
“I don’t think there is unanimity in NATO about whether or not to bring Ukraine into the NATO family now, at this moment, in the middle of a war,” he said.
Members of the British Parliament have also criticized Biden for pushing the European Union’s Ursula von der Leyen to be the next head of NATO, instead of UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace.
The move was widely seen as retaliation for Britain announcing plans to train Ukrainian pilots on F-16 aircraft without checking with Washington first.
