Biden, Jill Biden share memories of 2021 visit with Queen Elizabeth II

LONDON —  President Biden, in London for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, said Sunday that his heart goes out to her family because her death has left it with a “giant hole.”

“Sometimes you think you’ll never, you’ll never overcome it,” said Biden, who often speaks in very personal terms about loss following the death of his first wife and infant daughter, and later an adult son. “But as I’ve told the king, she’s going to be with him every step of the way — every minute, every moment. And that’s a reassuring notion.”

Biden and his wife, First Lady Jill Biden, honored the queen Sunday. The couple traveled to Westminster Hall to stand before the monarch’s coffin in the presence of thousands of mourners who have waited more than 14 hours to file past.

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Biden and the first lady then stopped at Lancaster House to sign separate condolence books before attending a reception at Buckingham Palace that King Charles III hosted for the world leaders attending Monday’s funeral at Westminster Abbey.

More than 2,000 people were expected at the funeral, including the Bidens.

Both Bidens recalled on Sunday their tea time with the queen last year at Windsor Castle, near London.

The president, who said after that visit that Elizabeth reminded him of his late mother, said Sunday that she kept offering him crumpets.

“I kept eating everything she put in front of me,” he said. “But she was the same in person as ... her image: decent, honorable, and all about service.”

The first lady told the Associated Press in a telephone interview after the palace reception that “what really impressed me” about the queen was “just how warm and gracious she was.”

“I loved her sense of curiosity. She wanted to know all about American politics and so she asked Joe question after question,” Jill Biden said. She said sitting in Elizabeth’s living room was “almost like being, you know, with your grandmother.”

“And she said, ‘Let me pour the tea,’ and we said, ‘No, no, let us help,’ and she said ‘Oh, no, no, no, I’ll get this. You sit down,’” Jill Biden said. “And it was just a very special moment with a very special woman.”

While standing alongside the coffin at Westminster Hall on Sunday, the first lady said she watched a little boy dressed in a Boy Scout uniform come in and give the queen a three-finger salute.

“I mean, it just gave me a lump in my throat,” she said, and showed ”how much the people really loved their queen, no matter their ages.”

President Biden wrote in the condolence book that the queen “was admired around the world for her unwavering commitment to service.”

The first lady signed a separate condolence book for spouses and ambassadors, writing “Queen Elizabeth lived her life for the people. She served with wisdom and grace. We will never forget her warmth, kindness and the conversations we shared.”

In the interview, Jill Biden cautioned that there’s a “human piece” to the queen’s death.

Speaking of Charles, she said: “He is the king, but no one should forget, he lost his mother and, you know, Prince William lost a grandmother. Sometimes we tend to forget the really human piece of this and the sorrow that they ... have to bear and how they have to grieve in public. But they seem to be doing OK,” she said.