First conceived by Winston Churchill after the end of World War II, it has been at the heart of British foreign policy ever since: our ‘special relationship’ with the United States.
But no one has done more for this great trans-Atlantic alliance than the woman who has known a staggering 13 occupants of the White House.
Indeed, as I explain in my latest book, Queen Of The World, there is nobody in either Britain or the U.S. who can claim to have met, conversed and dined with 12 serving U.S. Presidents — plus a retired one (Herbert Hoover).
She has hosted most of them, too, and today will welcome Donald Trump at Buckingham Palace. It is their second meeting, yet presidential visits here were few and far between before the invention of the jet engine.
No one has done more for the great trans-Atlantic alliance between the UK than the US than Queen Elizabeth II
The Palace entertained its first U.S. President in 1918, when Woodrow Wilson met George V at the end of World War I. But it would not be until 1961 that another president came through the gates.
That was John F. Kennedy, on a flying visit (The Queen had met Hoover, Truman and Eisenhower by then but JFK was her first palace visitor). He was accompanied by the First Lady, Jackie Kennedy, for a private dinner. The Queen would never see JFK again.
His assassination touched her deeply at the time when she was heavily pregnant with Prince Edward.
Doctors advised her against attending the national memorial service at St Paul’s, so she held her own at Windsor and invited 400 U.S. servicemen.
She would take a close personal interest in the Kennedy memorial, erected nearby at Runnymede, and made a stirring speech at its inauguration, saluting a man who ‘championed liberty in an age when its very foundations were being threatened’.
Prince Philip held the hand of John Junior — the little boy who moved the whole world by saluting his father’s coffin at the funeral in Washington DC in November 1963.
The Queen has met with 13 sitting US presidents, including John F. Kennedy and his wife Jackie in 1961
Hence the added poignancy when that same four-year-old gave a respectful bow to the Queen.
Britain’s decision to stay out of the Vietnam War led to a cooling between London and Washington, so the Queen’s path never crossed that of Kennedy’s successor, President Lyndon B Johnson.
But it was the Queen who helped soothe any bilateral bruising when she invited Johnson’s successor, Richard Nixon, to lunch during his visit to London in 1969.
‘Both my daughters follow you very closely,’ the President joked with Prince Charles.
Gerald Ford was in the White House when the Queen crossed the Atlantic to mark the bicentenary of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. It was, though, under President Ronald Reagan that the relationship would be as ‘special’ as it had been at any stage since D-Day — thanks again to that personal touch of the monarch.
Ronald Reagan was very comfortable on a horse when he visited, a skill that would lead to one of the most celebrated photographs of the Queen’s reign
Reagan was very comfortable on a horse, a skill that would lead to one of the most celebrated photographs of the Queen’s reign when the world’s press arrived at Windsor to see the two heads of state on horseback.
Reagan enjoyed some cheerful banter with the photographers.
‘If you stand still, I’ll take it over the top [of you],’ he yelled from astride Centennial.
The Queen set off on Burmese, her Canadian mare, with Reagan in hot pursuit, followed by teams of bodyguards on four legs and four wheels.
Reagan became the first U.S. President to address both Houses of Parliament.
The White House had wanted him to address MPs and peers in Westminster Hall, the great hammer-beamed medieval chamber. However, use of the hall would require cross-party support, and the Labour leader, Michael Foot, would not agree.
The then prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, duly arranged for the Royal Gallery to be used and it was a tour de force by Reagan, the former Hollywood actor with the common touch. He joked that when he had dined with Mrs Thatcher beneath a portrait of George III at the British Embassy in Washington, she had urged him to let ‘bygones be bygones’.
Later as 158 guests gathered for a banquet in St George’s Hall, Windsor, the Queen had a George III joke, too, as she recalled the warmth of her
