Queen’s presidents25
The Queen met Nixon and his wife Patricia at Chequers, the official country home of then-prime minister Edward Heath, in 1970.
It went so well that US ambassador Walter Annenberg paid for a covered swimming pool to be built in the grounds as a “thank you” for the hospitality the president had enjoyed. President by default after Nixon resigned under the threat of impeachment, Ford danced with the Queen at a White House dinner for the US Bicentennial celebrations in July 1976.
As Basil Fawlty might have said of their ballroom chat: “Don’t mention the War of Independence.” The Queen with Clinton at a banquet to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the D-Day landings at London’s Guildhall in 1994. He later said: “She’s a highly intelligent woman who knows a lot about the world… I always marvel when we meet at what a keen judge she is of human events.”
and the one who missed out…
The only president the Queen hasn’t met during her long reign is Lyndon B Johnson, 1963-1969. As vice-president LBJ was thrust into the top job after the assassination of John F Kennedy in 1963. He The Queen’s jokes were clearly a hit with Reagan when she made a toast at a dinner given in her honour by Ronnie and Nancy in San Francisco in 1983.
A year earlier the Reagans had become the first presidential couple to stay overnight at Windsor Castle. The ex-movie cowboy said later: “The highlight of our stay there came when the Queen and I went horseriding together.” Four years after meeting at Buckingham Palace in 2003, Dubya and the Queen attended an event to mark the 400th anniversary of the founding of British settlement Jamestown.
When he fluffed his lines during a speech of welcome, Bush turned and winked at the Queen and later recalled that she responded with “a look that only a mother can give a child”. would have met the Queen if she had attended Kennedy’s funeral but she was pregnant with Prince Edward at the time. Prince Philip went in her place and did meet Johnson – who never made a scheduled trip to Europe during his years in office. Daily Express Saturday February 17 2018 Bush Senior hosted a state dinner for the Queen and Prince Philip during their 1991 royal tour of America.
But the visit was marred by “Podiumgate”, the controversy that arose when the Queen – who is 5ft 4in tall – delivered an address and all that could be seen of her above the podium and microphone was her hat. After meeting the Queen in the first year of his presidency, Obama and his wife Michelle became big fans.
Following a successful state visit to the UK (pictured) in 2011 the Obamas forged a strong bond with the Queen and her wider family, particularly Prince Harry and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.