Start of a beautiful relationship as leaders spread the love at G7
Onlookers (not that there were any because of the tight security) witnessing the four people strolling along the Carbis Bay promenade could not help but agree with the two men in the middle: both, it was clear, had ‘‘married way above their stations’’.
On a short stretch of Cornish coast yesterday, Boris Johnson and Joe Biden strode out for the benefit of a press photographer at the beginning of what appeared to be a beautiful friendship.
‘‘It’s fantastic, it’s a breath of fresh air,’’ declared Johnson of the US president. Biden surveyed the view, stretching out into the English Channel. ‘‘It’s gorgeous. I don’t want to go home,’’ said the most powerful man in the world.
Between them walked their glamorous wives: Jill Biden, 70, who has been married to Joe for 44 years, and Carrie Johnson, 33, who has been wed to Boris for 12 days.
‘‘I told the prime minister we have something in common,’’ said Biden, 78, adding with a grin: ‘‘We both married way above our stations.’’
Johnson, 56, concurred. ‘‘I’m not going to dissent on that one. I’m not going to disagree with you there or indeed on anything else, I think highly likely,’’ said the prime minister.
This was their first meeting, one that might have caused alarm after a series of briefings in which the American side let it be known that Biden had ordered his officials to rebuke Johnson for jeopardising the peace process in Northern Ireland in the wake of Brexit.
Any of that worry – for the cameras at least – appeared to melt away as the two men bonded over their mutual admiration for their better-looking wives. The new best friends eschewed handshakes for elbow bumps and strolled along the promenade before sitting down for talks at the Carbis Bay Hotel that plays host to the G7 summit.
Their wives meanwhile meandered down to the beach for their own ‘‘special relationship’’ time together. Johnson brought along little Wilfred Johnson, born a year ago, but never seen before on an official engagement.
A Downing Street in-house photographer accompanied the trio on to the sand to record the historic moment when Wilfred sat on the beach in a blue T-shirt and nappy and watched his mother and the First Lady remove their matching flip flops and paddle in British waters.
Protecting little Wilfred’s privacy, only the back of his head with the distinctive curly blond mop is visible in one of the photographs authorised for release; in another Johnson is carrying her son as she walks away from the water with Biden. Wilfred is facing away from the camera and staring out to sea, presumably looking at the warship guarding Carbis Bay from insurgents.
Anybody watching from the water (and there wasn’t anyone) would have seen the word LOVE emblazoned on the back of Biden’s jacket in diamante studs. Her blazer, since these things need to be recorded, was by the French brand Zadig and Voltaire and her spot print dress from the American label Brandon Maxwell.
‘‘It’s really nice to be here in
Cornwall. It’s my first time,’’ declared Biden, ‘‘Obviously it’s beautiful for those of you who have been here before.’’
She said that she and her husband were looking forward to meeting the Queen – they will meet at a drinks reception at the Eden Project this evening and then again at Windsor Castle – as part of their visit, and that the couple hoped to focus on education in their discussions with the royals.
‘‘We’ve looked forward to this for weeks and now it’s finally here. It’s a beautiful beginning,’’ she said.
Johnson wore a bright red dress from the British label LK Bennett that currently retails for £260, (NZ$512) reduced from £325, and red shoes from Zara. Earlier in the day she had worn a mustard dress by young British sustainable fashion label Alice Early in a photograph shared with the media in which she walked along a boardwalk with just her husband.
After marrying Boris less than two weeks ago at Westminster Cathedral, the new Mrs Johnson stayed largely shtum, presumably after all the exertion of preparing a wedding.
The couples engaged in the traditional pleasantries of exchanging gifts.
Boris Johnson presented President Biden with a photograph of a mural of Frederick Douglass, a former slave who became a leading figure in the 19th century abolitionist movement in the United States.
The mural had been painted on to a wall in Edinburgh by the artist Ross Blair and Biden received a framed photograph of the painting, since presumably the wall was too big to take back on Air Force One.
President Biden, knowing his recipient well, gave Mr Johnson a Us-manufactured bicycle and a helmet to go with.
Dr Biden received a first edition The Apple Tree by Daphne du of
Maurier, perhaps Cornwall’s best known novelist. The Apple Tree was published as a short novel along with ‘‘several long stories’’ that includes The Birds, later turned into a horror film by Alfred Hitchcock.
Downing Street said that the choice of the Du Maurier novel was to emphasise the Cornish connection – and not related to the horror film in any way. Dr Biden in return gave Mrs Johnson a leather tote bag made by military wives and a presidential silk scarf.
With the G7 summit getting under way, this was a day that could have gone badly wrong but instead appeared to go swimmingly – or at least paddlingly – well.
It came ahead of a potentially tricky meeting between the two leaders, with Biden expected to use the meeting to warn Johnson not to let the row over Northern Ireland’s Brexit arrangements put the Good Friday Agreement at risk. – Telegraph Group