King Charles and Joe Biden appeared to share a joke as the US president was welcomed to Windsor Castle on Monday.
The two men could be seen smiling and laughing with each other as the King welcomed Mr Biden in the castle quadrangle this afternoon, just hours after meeting Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in Downing Street.
On arrival, Mr Biden received the royal salute and the US national anthem was played by the band of the Welsh Guards. He and Charles then inspected the guard of honour before they headed into the castle for tea.
They took tea in the Oak Room, His Majesty's personal sitting room overlooking the castle’s famous Quadrangle. The meeting lasted around 20 minutes, with just a handful of advisors from each side present and went on longer than planned as the two men were getting on so well.
Afterwards the King invited his guest to view a display of items from the Royal Collection in the White Drawing Room related to the Royal Family’s relationship with previous Presidents of the United States including President Roosevelt, President Kennedy and President Eisenhower.
The display included a letter from Queen Elizabeth II to President Eisenhower following his visit to Balmoral Castle in 1959. Written in January 1960, it included a recipe for the ‘drop scones’ the President had so admired during his visit to her private Scottish home the previous year. The letter was chosen as this visit also marked the first time a young Prince Charles - then aged 10 - had met a serving US President.
After a few minutes the King and President walked through to the Green Drawing Room, where two uniformed members of staff had waited patiently for several minutes to dramatically open a set of gilded doors to herald their arrival.
Inside were around 50 to 60 participants of the Climate Finance Mobilisation Forum, who had met met earlier at a nearby hotel. The Forum has brought together financial and philanthropic leaders from the UK and the USA to strengthen commitments to climate action with emerging markets and developing economies.
The two men stood next to each other smiling warmly as they were briefed on the morning’s activities by energy secretary Grant Shapps and John Kerry, the US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, before making their way around the tables meeting and greeting the representatives.
Outside the window no less than five presidential helicopters could be seen parked on the lawn of the East Terrance, in addition to a fleet of more than ten vehicles that accompanied President Biden from the helicopter to the castle.
A spokesman for the King said afterwards that it had been "an extremely cordial and successful meeting that touched on a wide variety of issues of mutual interest and concern". They added: "You will have seen for yourselves the personal warmth between His Majesty and the President."
It is the first time the pair have met since the Coronation, which Mr Biden skipped but First Lady Jill Biden was in attendance to represent the US. Mr Biden was in attendance at the Heads of State Reception at Buckingham Palace on the eve of the late Queen’s funeral before he and Mrs Biden attended the funeral service in September last year.
They had previously met at the G7 Leaders Summit in June 2021 and Cop26 in Glasgow later that year. They shared a handshake at Cop26 and Mr Biden expressed his like for Charles’ passion for combatting climate change and his environmental activism.
Earlier today, Mr Biden was given a warm welcome on the steps of Downing Street by Rishi Sunak - amid a huge international backlash over the use of cluster munitions in Ukraine.
The two leaders smiled and shook hands before heading to the garden for crunch talks ahead of a Nato summit in Lithuania tomorrow. Ahead of the half-hour meeting Mr Sunak was urged to press Mr Biden on the decision to send cluster munitions to Ukraine - having said he "discourages" their use.
US President told the PM he "couldn't be meeting with a closer friend and greater ally". He added: "Our relationship is rock solid." They were also expected to discuss Ukraine's bid to join NATO, which the US opposes as it is currently at war. No10 has refused to say whether the PM will raise the issue of cluster bombs during their talks.
The US has come in for heavy criticism after announcing it would be sending the weapons - which dozens of nations have outlawed because of the way they kill and maim civilians. Mr Sunak responded by saying Britain "discourages" their use as one of 123 signatories of a convention banning the bombs.
The visit to Windsor was part of a busy day for the president, who is making a layover in London on the way to the Nato summit in Vilnius, Lithuania.
