Winston Churchill coined the term ‘special relationship’ to describe the cultural, political, and military alliance between the US and the UK, developed throughout the 20th century.
While having to remain politically neutral as Monarch, Elizabeth II understood the importance of sustaining these relationships throughout her 70-year reign, where she met 13 out of 14 US Presidents, deploying soft diplomacy to strengthen ties.
President Harry S Truman (1945-1953)
Before she was Queen, Princess Elizabeth – along with Prince Philip and Princess Margaret – visited the US in 1951, where they met President Truman and First Lady Bess Truman.
The visit was short and part of Elizabeth’s first visit to Canada. Elizabeth gifted a rare English candelabra, a three-part mirror, and an oil painting to Truman on behalf of her father, George VI.
President Dwight Eisenhower (1953-1961)
Her first trip to the United States as Queen was to meet President Dwight Eisenhower and First Lady Mamie Eisenhower.
The Queen and the Duke stayed in the same suite at The White House that George VI and the Queen Mother did on their visit in June 1939. While the US and UK have enjoyed a longstanding alliance, the Queen’s trip in 1957 came at a difficult time during the Suez crisis.
The visit was crucial to repairing the relationship, which it certainly helped to do.
Elizabeth and Eisenhower had a long-standing friendship, with the Queen exchanging letters with the President for many years; she even shared with him a family recipe for scones!
President John F. Kennedy (1961-1963)
The first president the Queen invited to Buckingham Palace for a visit during her reign was John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy in 1961, who had come to the UK on a private visit.
During his stay, Kennedy met with Prime Minister Harold Macmillan to discuss Cold War strategies.
Mrs. Kennedy was reportedly unimpressed with the decor of Buckingham Palace and had an issue with the guest list for the state dinner when she wanted to invite her sister, Lee Radziwill, who was a divorcee. This caused tension, as divorcees were not allowed to attend state dinners, but after Kennedy threatened to boycott it, the palace gave in.
Despite it, the Queen remained friendly and corresponded with the President until his assassination in 1963. After learning of his death, Elizabeth ordered the bells of Westminster Abbey to be rung and a week of court mourning – highly unusual given that he was not a Brit or Commonwealth subject.
President Lyndon B. Johnson (1963-1969)
The only president that the Queen did not meet was Lyndon B. Johnson due to the Vietnam War.
Even though the Queen never got to meet the president, Princess Margaret attended a dinner dance at the White House, where she got to dance with the president to ‘Everything’s Coming Up Roses’.
Despite never meeting the president, Elizabeth did meet First Lady Lady Bird Johnson during a 1991 visit to Texas at the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin.
President Richard Nixon (1969–1974)
The Queen and President Nixon met on three different occasions. The first was during his time as Vice President during the Queen and Duke’s 1957 US visit.
The second came on a visit considered ‘informal’ compared to other diplomatic occasions, for a luncheon at Buckingham Palace, to reinforce ties with European allies, while the third meeting took place in 1970 at Chequers, the British Prime Minister’s country residence (at the time, for Ted Heath).
The Nixon Foundation released a statement following the death of the Queen, calling the relationship between Nixon and the Queen ‘a special bilateral friendship that would last for the next 70 years’, indicating a longstanding mutual respect.
President Gerald Ford (1974–1977)
Celebrating the bicentennial of the Declaration of Independence in 1976, Elizabeth, along with Prince Philip, was invited to a US state visit by President Gerald Ford and First Lady Betty Ford.
During the visit, they exchanged gifts, with the Monarch giving Ford a soup tureen and he gifting a bronze statue by Harry Jackson. During the state dinner, the Queen danced with Ford, and the Duke danced with the First Lady.
After the state banquet on 7th July, held in the Rose Garden, Elizabeth and Philip visited the Smithsonian Museum and hosted a banquet at the British Embassy in D.C., before boarding the Royal Yacht Britannia for the remainder of their tour.
Elizabeth and Ford shared a warm and diplomatic friendship, with the bicentennial celebration one of the many highlights of the Queen’s visits with US presidents.
President Jimmy Carter (1977–1981)
President Jimmy Carter and First Lady Rosalynn Carter met Queen Elizabeth II during a visit to London for the G7 Summit in 1977. Summit leaders were hosted at Buckingham Palace for a dinner as part of the Queen’s Silver Jubilee.
While greeting members of the Royal Family, Carter accidentally kissed the Queen Mother…! Reflecting on the moment, she reportedly wrote: ‘I took a sharp step backwards — not quite far enough.’ In his 2016 book, A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety, Carter recounted his distress over media coverage of it.
Following her death, Carter and Rosalynn released a statement in which they honoured Elizabeth II’s ‘dignity, graciousness, and sense of duty’ as an inspiration to millions around the world.
President Ronald Reagan (1981–1989)
One of the Queen’s closest American relationships with a US president was her longstanding friendship with Ronald Reagan, whom she first met in 1982, when the Reagans visited the UK to strengthen US and UK ties during the Falklands War.
Reagan was the first president to stay at Windsor Castle and the first president to address both Houses of Parliament. The Queen and Reagan bonded over their mutual love of horses and were even seen riding around the castle grounds together, producing now iconic images.
The Queen and Prince Philip were invited to the US in 1983, to visit the Reagans’ ranch in California, with the President and First Lady celebrating their 31st wedding anniversary aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia.
Elizabeth appointed Reagan as an honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath in 1989, rare for a president, making it a symbolic gesture of respect and friendship.
Following his death in 2004, the Queen sent a private message of condolences to his wife, Nancy Reagan.
President George HW Bush (1989–1993)
President Bush and the late Queen first met in 1989 when he visited the UK and received a tour of Buckingham Palace. Two years later, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip were invited to Washington, D.C. for a state visit in 1991.
Honoured with a state arrival ceremony, this was a historic visit for the Queen, being the first British Monarch to address a joint session of Congress. During the visit, Elizabeth planted a Linden tree on the South Lawn of the White House to replace the one her father, George VI, planted on his official state visit in 1937.
Elizabeth even attended a Baltimore Orioles baseball game with the President, where they watched the game and enjoyed classic American baseball food.
Like Reagan, Bush was awarded an honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath in 1993, showing the Queen’s great respect for his leadership.
Upon his death, the Queen released a statement where she referred to President Bush as a ‘great friend and ally to the United Kingdom’.
President Bill Clinton (1993–2001)
President Clinton and the Queen met on several occasions throughout his presidency. First, in 1994, for the 50th anniversary of D-Day in Portsmouth, then again in a 1995 visit, the president and first lady toured Buckingham Palace, and Clinton announced that a new American warship would be named after Winston Churchill.
In 2000, the Clintons and their daughter, Chelsea Clinton, were invited for tea at Buckingham Palace after they had denied a 1997 invitation for tea due to the president and family wanting to enjoy the UK as tourists.
After her death, Clinton shared a statement praising the Queen’s remarkable reign, in which he called the Queen, ‘a source of stability, serenity, and strength’.
President George W Bush (2001–2009)
The first president to be invited to the UK for an official State Visit was President Bush in 2003 – visits until this point had been private or official visits (i.e. not requested by the Monarch).
During the three-day visit, the president saw items from the Royal Collection at the Queen’s Gallery, gave a speech at the 17th century Banqueting House, and laid a wreath at the grave of the unknown soldier in Westminster Abbey.
At the State Banquet, the Queen gave a speech in which she recalled their shared history and respect for the president following the events of 9/11, stating: ‘The leadership you showed in the aftermath of the terrible events of 11th September 2001 won the admiration of everyone in the United Kingdom. You led the response to an unprovoked terrorist attack, which was on a scale never seen before’.
During a 2007 US state visit, the Queen and Prince Philip marked the 400th anniversary of the Jamestown settlement and attended the Kentucky Derby.
During the welcoming ceremony, the president accidentally said that the Queen had been in America to celebrate the bicentennial in 1776. At the end of their US visit, during a formal dinner, the Queen joked: ‘I wondered whether I should start this toast by saying, “When I was here in 1776…”‘
Following her death, Bush shared a fond memory of having tea with the Queen and her corgis, noting that it was one of the most memorable moments of his presidency.
President Barack Obama (2009-2017)
President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama were welcomed to the UK shortly after taking office in 2009.
Obama shared that: ‘As two Americans unaccustomed to palaces and pomp, we didn’t know what to expect. We shouldn’t have worried. The Queen and Prince Philip immediately put us at ease with their grace and generosity.’
They were invited again in 2011 to Buckingham Palace, and the Obamas hosted a dinner for the Queen and the Duke at Winfield House, the US Ambassador’s residence in London.
Their final visit was in 2016, coinciding with the Queen’s 90th birthday. During the 2016 visit, the Obamas gifted the Queen a photo album with highlights from her previous presidential visits.
Obama attended the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022, and shared a heartfelt message: ‘It is with gratitude for your leadership and the kindness you’ve shown me and my family that I say, may the light of your crown continue to reign supreme’.
President Joe Biden (2021–2024)
The Queen welcomed President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden at Windsor Castle, following the G7 Summit in 2021. The meeting was significant, as it was one of the first engagements the Queen undertook since the death of her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh.
Elizabeth and the Bidens enjoyed tea at Windsor Castle’s Oak Room, with the visit lasting over an hour.
The Queen died in the middle of Biden’s term as president. Following her death, he shared that the Queen was an era-defining ‘stateswoman of unmatched dignity and constancy’.
President Donald Trump (2017–)
President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump were invited for tea by the Queen at Windsor Castle in 2018, visiting again a year later, in 2019, for an official State Visit.
The trip, which included a State Banquet, 75th anniversary commemorations for D-Day, and a meeting with Prime Minister Theresa May, was met with protests in London and other parts of the UK.
Following the state banquet, Trump said that the Queen and he ‘had a great relationship’ and that ‘she liked me and I liked her’.
Following her death, the Trump praised her sense of duty and ‘historic and remarkable reign’.
From riding around Windsor Castle with President Reagan to enjoying a baseball game with President Bush, the Queen’s longstanding friendships with many US presidents strengthened the strong ties between the US and the UK, leaving a standard for future Monarchs to follow.
