All the Queen's President's

In honor of President's Day in the United States, here is a look at the Queen's interactions with the 12 American presidents who have served during her reign from Truman to Obama.


Harry S. Truman
1945-1953

Princess Elizabeth in the motorcade with President Truman

     The Queen met President Harry S Truman in 1951 when she was Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh. She and the Duke of Edinburgh had been on a Canadian tour and made a stop in Washington – their first visit to the States – before returning home to Britain. Truman was besotted by Elizabeth, and after greeting her and Philip at the airport, he remarked to the press, “When I was a little boy, I read about a fairy princess, and there she is!” Elizabeth was taken by the President’s natural manner, and in her response, proclaimed that “free men everywhere look towards the United States with affection and with warmth.” In retirement, Truman praised the Queen for her first televised Christmas broadcast for its references to “unthinking people” who prefer throwing away all traditions, and this was what Truman called a “lovely statement.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower
1953-1961

President Dwight Eisenhower

     Dwight D. Eisenhower was the Queen’s second U.S. president, but the first one she met as a reigning monarch. She had gotten to know him as an army general through her parents while he was the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe during World War II. Now in 1957, she was his guest during a six day tour of the United States, which was designed to help repair the “Special Relationship” between America and Britain, which had been damaged by the 1956 Suez Crisis. During this tour, the Queen and Prince Philip stayed in the White House, attended a college football “match” between the University of Maryland and the University of North Carolina, spontaneously visited a supermarket, and marked the 350^th anniversary of the first permanent British settlement in America, Jamestown. 

     They were greeted by large cheering crowds wherever they went, including New York City, where over a million people turned out to see them and the President drive up Manhattan Island from Battery Park to the Waldorf-Astoria. At the end of the tour, British Prime Minister Harold MacMillan wrote in his diary that the Queen had “buried George III for good and all.”

     Later, Elizabeth II (as Queen of Canada) and President Eisenhower traveled aboard the royal yacht Britannia along the St. Lawrence Seaway to inaugurate it in 1959, and Eisenhower paid a visit to the Queen at Balmoral, which he described as “perfect in every respect.” 

John F. Kennedy
1961-1963

The Queen and Prince Philip with the Kennedy's at Buckingham Palace

     President John F. Kennedy had been in office for four months when he met the Queen at the end of a European tour, which included a highly-successful visit to France and an American-Soviet conference in Vienna, where he had been given a rough time by Nikita Khrushchev.

     Elizabeth II and Prince Philip hosted President Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy for a dinner at Buckingham Palace – the first for an American president since Woodrow Wilson had been entertained by George V in 1918. It was a private occasion, but nonetheless displayed the royal treatment for the President and the First Lady. The Queen was noted for responding to Mrs. Kennedy's complaint about the pressures of visiting Canada by saying, "One gets crafty after a while and learns how to save oneself."

     This would be only visit between the Queen and President Kennedy before his assassination in 1963. In the following year, she dedicated the Kennedy Memorial at Runnymede in the presence of his family.

Lyndon B. Johnson
1963-1969

President Johnson  never got to meet the Queen, but Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon did pay a visit to the White House in 1965.

     Kennedy’s successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, was the only American president to not meet Elizabeth II in the course of her reign. His only chance to do so was during the state funeral of Sir Winston Churchill in January 1965, but he was suffering from a bronchial condition and his physicians advised against the trip – even though Johnson had secured special concessions such as permission to remaining seated while others were standing and getting private audience with the Queen apart from the other dignitaries. Later that year, LBJ would receive a visit in the United States from the Queen’s sister, Princess Margaret and her husband, Antony Armstrong-Jones, Earl of Snowdon.

Richard M. Nixon
1969-1974

The Nixon's with Queen Elizabeth and British Prime Minister Edward Heath

     Richard M. Nixon became President in 1969, and in that year the Queen hosted an informal lunch for the new leader of the free world. In the fall of 1970, she joined Nixon and Prime Minister Edward Heath for lunch at the summer residence for British prime ministers at Chequers, England. However, the President’s real connection with the royal family came about during the previous summer, when Prince Charles and Princess Anne visited Washington for what amounted to a two-day state visit (during which he attempted to set up a relationship between Charles and Nixon’s elder daughter, Tricia).

Gerald R. Ford
1974-1977

The Queen and President Ford share a dance in celebration of America's Bicentennial

     In 1974, President Nixon resigned in disgrace as a result of the Watergate Scandal, and was succeeded by Gerald R. Ford, who set about attempting to heal a nation that had been fraught by the scandal and the conflict in Vietnam. Part of this healing manifested itself in the Bicentennial celebrations of American independence in 1976, and the Queen and Prince Philip actively took part in them during a six day visit in July.

     Among the highlights of the tour was a white-tie Bicentennial dinner that was held in their honor by President Ford and First Lady Betty Ford in a large tent within the Rose Garden on the grounds of the White House. Public television broadcasted the event, which was attended by 224 guests and lasted until almost 1:00AM. The Queen and the President toasted each other and shared a dance to Frank Sinatra’s “The Lady is a Tramp.” The royal couple and the Fords took part in other Bicentennial events, and towards the end of the tour, Elizabeth and Philip entertained the Fords aboard the royal yacht Britannia. 

     When it was over, the Queen reflected, “Who would have thought 200 years ago that a descendant of King George III could have taken part in these celebrations?”

Jimmy Carter
1977-1981

Jimmy Carter is likely remembered in royal circles for his faux pas against the Queen Mother

     President Jimmy Carter met the Queen once during his time in office, and that was while he was in the UK for a round of economic and foreign policy meetings. A black-tie dinner was held at Buckingham Palace for NATO leaders, where Carter met Elizabeth II and other members of her family. This dinner is remembered in part for Carter’s protocol faux pas when he kissed Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother on her mouth. She later commented that she had taken a step backwards, but not enough to avoid it.

Ronald Reagan
1981-1989 

When it came to horses, the Queen and President Reagan were like old friends

     Carter’s successor, Ronald Reagan, had a more memorable and personal relationship with Elizabeth II. He and his wife Nancy were invited to Windsor Castle as personal guests in 1982, and the President was the first American head of state to stay there. Later, the Queen and Prince Philip were guests of the Reagan’s at their ranch in California. 

     The common thread of these visits were horses, for the Queen and the President were both keen on them, and they are remembered for riding side-by-side on horseback like old friends. Indeed, was during this period that relations between America and Britain were as close as at any time since World War II, thanks in part to the conservative ideological match between Reagan and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. 

     During the Falklands War between the UK and Argentina, Reagan’s government had supplied intelligence to the British and imposed economic sanctions on the Argentinians, and in the end, Britain won. 

     The Queen would eventually bestow an honorary knighthood on Reagan.

George H.W. Bush
1989-1993

Bush 41 and the Queen attending the 1991 state dinner with their spouses

     By the time of Queen’s next state visit to the United States, George H.W. Bush was in the White House. It was 1991, and the President had recently and successfully prosecuted the First Gulf War against Iraq, in which there had been British and Commonwealth participation, so the visit was in part a way of thanking the Queen and her realms for their help. 

     Unfortunately, a faux pas occurred at the welcoming ceremony on the White House South Lawn: the podium was made to accommodate President Bush, but not the Queen, whose hat was the only thing that appeared behind the podium as she spoke, leading to references to the "talking hat." Later, she became the first British monarch to address Congress and the President treated her to an American baseball game, where he gave her some info on the rules of the game.

Bill Clinton
1993-2001

President Clinton was the Queen's first "Baby Boomer" American leader

     Bill Clinton was the Queen’s tenth U.S. president, and they met other for an extended period during the fiftieth anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy in 1994. On the night before the commemorations, President Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton were invited to spend the night aboard the royal yacht Britannia. During the dinner, the two families got on well, and Clinton observed that the Queen was very knowledgeable about public issues and asked probing questions without revealing too much insight on her personal opinions. He concluded that she could have been a politician or diplomat in her own right were it not for the circumstances of her birth.

George W. Bush
2001-2009

President and Laura Bush with the Queen and Prince Philip greeting people from the White House balcony in 2007

 
     President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush were guests of the Queen’s during a state visit to London in 2003. At the time, the Iraq War was only a few months old, and this visit was done as part of diplomatic efforts to strengthen American ties to Britain, its staunchest ally in the conflict under Prime Minister Tony Blair. Despite the protests against the war, the visit was largely successful, and Bush 43 and his wife were warmly welcomed by the Queen, who had already known them from the time that his father was president.

     Four years later, the Elizabeth II and Prince Philip made a return state visit to America, during which they marked the 400^th anniversary of the Jamestown settlement in Virginia. Later, they traveled to Washington to meet with President and Mrs. Bush. This time, the podium at the South Lawn welcoming ceremony was positioned correctly for the Queen, but a faux pas occurred anyway when the President remarked that she had helped celebrate our country’s bicentennial in 1776, before quickly correcting himself to say 1976. Realizing his mistake, he winked at the Queen and commented that she had given him a look that only a mother could give.

Barack Obama
2009-Present

The Obama's meeting the Queen at Buckingham Palace in 2009

     2008 brought about election of America’s first African-American president, Barack Obama and in 2009, he met the Queen for the first time while in office at the G20 Summit. During a reception, the Queen and First Lady Michelle Obama were seen gently embracing each other for a moment, which caused somewhat of a stir in royal circles and in the press. But it does appear that Queen and the Obama’s have a friendly relationship, which actually began when the President was the junior Senator from Illinois. 

     Two years later, the Obama’s were back in London for a state visit at the invitation of the Queen. She pulled out items from the Royal Collection relevant to America in general and the President in particular: a hand-written note from George III which lamented the loss of America (but also speculated on future trade and diplomatic relationships), letters from President Abraham Lincoln and letters from Queen Victoria in which she expressed sympathy for American slaves, records of the visit of the then Prince of Wales (future Edward VII) to Obama’s home-town of Chicago in 1860, and a handwritten letter from the Queen Mother to then Princess Elizabeth recording the historic visit between George VI and President Franklin Roosevelt in 1939 on the eve of World War II. 

     The Obama’s returned the favor by presenting the Queen with a book of photographs of her parents visit, and they also met the recently-married Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. At the state dinner, the President proposed a toast to the Queen but the orchestra struck up God Save the Queen as he was speaking, though this was a minor faux pas that failed to mar the fact that this visit was a success.


Sources:

Marr, Andrew. The Real Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait of Queen Elizabeth II. New York: St. Martin's Press. 2012. Print (Pages 3 and 4).

Smith, Sally Bedell. Elizabeth the Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch. New York: Random House. 2012. Print (Pages 58-59, 122, 132-136, 138, 140, 155-157, 177-178, 243-245, 276-278, 310-314, 356-359, 380-81, and 456-57).