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Queen to host Joe Biden at Buckingham Palace this summer

Prince Charles, who snubbed Donald Trump during his 2018 visit, will also attend the meeting with the new president
The Queen greeting Trump in 2019
The Queen greeting Trump in 2019
VICTORIA JONES/PA

The Queen will lead a post-Brexit charm offensive by hosting Joe Biden and other world leaders at Buckingham Palace before the G7 summit in Cornwall in June.

She will be joined at the “soft power” reception in June by the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge under plans being drawn up by royal and government officials to cement the “special relationship” between the UK and America.

A one-on-one meeting between the Queen and the president is set to be her first significant diplomatic engagement after she returns to London.

The Queen, 94, has met every US president since the start of her reign in 1952, except Lyndon B Johnson.

The sovereign, who has not been in residence at Buckingham Palace since last March, is determined to “get back to business” with trooping the colour in the capital this summer after last year’s parade was dramatically reduced and moved to Windsor for the first time during her 68-year reign.

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The military parade on June 12, marking the Queen’s 95th birthday, will fall two days’ after the Duke of Edinburgh’s 100th birthday and is set to be the first public reunion of the royal family since “Megxit”.

The atmosphere is expected to contrast with Donald Trump’s first visit to the UK in July 2018, when Charles and William snubbed him, leaving the Queen to meet him alone.

Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker of the House, has written to Biden inviting him to visit the Commons, an offer not extended to Trump. John Bercow, the former Speaker, vetoed the idea of Trump speaking in parliament’s Westminster Hall, an honour which was given to his predecessor, Barack Obama.

Charles has already written to Biden to congratulate him on his appointment as president, according to royal aides. The green campaigner is understood to be delighted that one of Biden’s first acts as president was signing a series of executive orders addressing climate change and the environment, overturning many of Trump’s policies.

The Queen sent the new president a private message ahead of his inauguration on January 20.

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A senior royal source said: “There is a desire from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to have a very strong royal presence before G7 events, and all senior members of the royal family will be part of what happens.”

During his UK state visit in 2019, Trump eschewed the tradition of arriving at Buckingham Palace in a motorcade, instead flying to and from the palace by helicopter in a move many believed was to avoid the thousands of protesters gathered in central London. The presidential helicopter was said to have left damaging scorch marks on the Queen’s prized lawns, much to her dismay.

In another apparent breach of protocol, he greeted the monarch with a “fist bump” instead of a handshake.