President Donald Trump to be feted by Queen Elizabeth, but he's not the 1st
President Trump is set for a state visit with Queen Elizabeth II this week.
President Donald Trump is set to be feted in grand style by Queen Elizabeth II during an official state visit this week.
But he's not the first president to get the royal treatment.
Queen Elizabeth and U.S. Presidents
Trump is just the latest in a long string of U.S. presidents -- as far as Harry Truman -- to have met Britain's longest-reigning monarch. He is, however, just the third to receive the full trappings of an honorary state visit.
Here's a look back at previous meetings between Queen Elizabeth and American presidents:
In 1951, when the queen was still a princess, she met Truman during a visit to Washington.
President Dwight Eisenhower was the first U.S. president to have met with Queen Elizabeth as the reigning monarch. Eisenhower welcomed the young queen for her first state visit to the U.S. in 1957. And in 1959, the queen welcomed Eisenhower to the U.K. with a meeting at Balmoral Castle.
In 1961, the queen rolled out the red carpet for President John F. Kennedy and first lady Jacqueline Kennedy, hosting them for dinner at Buckingham Palace.
Kennedy's successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, did not meet with Queen Elizabeth during his presidency, making him the only U.S. president since Truman not to have met her when she was queen.
President Richard Nixon ended the years-long drought when he dined with the queen over lunch at Buckingham Palace in 1969. Though this was their first meeting with Nixon as president, he had previously met her when he served as vice president in 1957.
President Gerald Ford welcomed Queen Elizabeth to the U.S. in 1976 for festivities surrounding the 200th anniversary of the singing of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. They even shared a dance during a ball at the White House.
It wasn't long thereafter that the queen played hostess to another U.S. president. President Jimmy Carter visited Buckingham Palace in 1977, when the monarch welcomed Carter along with other visiting heads of state to the palace for a dinner in conjunction with that year's NATO summit.
President Ronald Reagan and first lady Nancy Reagan were feted with an official visit to the U.K. in 1982. Reagan would later call it a "fairy-tale visit" in his memoir and wrote that the highlight of the trip for him was a horseback ride with the queen. The Reagans would later reciprocate Queen Elizabeth's hospitality by hosting her and Prince Philip for a stay at their California ranch.
President George H.W. Bush and first lady Barbara Bush met Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip at Buckingham Place during a visit to the United Kingdom in 1989.
President Bill Clinton first met the queen in 1994 during a banquet marking the 50th anniversary of D-Day in Portsmouth, England. Clinton made multiple visits to the U.K. over the course of his presidency and also met the queen for tea at Buckingham Palace in 2000.
President George W. Bush became the first U.S. president to get the full honors of a state visit. The three days of festivities included a 41-gun salute and state banquet at Buckingham Palace.
Queen Elizabeth again rolled out the red carpet for President Barack Obama, hosting him along with first lady Michelle Obama for a state visit in 2011. The Obamas would meet with the queen on two other occasions over the course of his presidency. The relationship between the royal family and the Obamas was personal, with Prince William and Kate, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, even hosting the first couple for a private dinner at Kensington Palace during one of their stays in London.
With his trip this week, Trump is set to meet with the queen for the second time. He first met her last year during a working visit to the U.K., during which the Queen hosted the president for tea at Windsor Palace.
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