Two men – the US president and the British king – have waited decades to land their dream jobs, creating a sense of normalcy and unity when they finally ascend to the throne. Both prefer to give up executive palaces for their respective seclusion. And they share a passion for confronting threats to the environment.
The men, 80-year-old President Biden and 74-year-old King Charles III, also unite with their challenges. Both face an increasingly skeptical public about their institutions. And both struggle with skepticism about whether they are the right people to lead the increasingly diverse groups they chair.
Arianne Chernock, professor of history at Boston University and scholar of modern Britain, said: “As older men at the peak of their careers, they need to redefine what it is to be a person. old. way to connect with a multicultural young generation.”
That common ground will be the backdrop for Monday’s meeting between the president and the king at Windsor Castle, near London, where the two are expected to discuss clean energy investment and efforts to combat climate change. behind in developing countries. Those are issues that Charles has been warning about since the 1970s, and Biden has become central to his presidency.
Charles gathered leaders in Glasgow in 2021 to tackle climate change, warning them that “Time is up.” Mr. Biden declared the tax, energy and healthcare bill he signed into law last year as “The biggest step forward in climate ever.”
Sally Bedell Smith, who has written several biographies of the British royal family, says those points of mutual interest can be helpful. “My guess is Biden would be very respectful of what Charles did and said” on the subject, she noted.
Both are also using the issue to connect more broadly with the public and, in Biden’s case, to motivate voters.
Mr. Biden has struggled for much of his presidency with low approval votes. Recently poll by Reuters showed that he received 41 percent approval, up slightly from the lows of his presidency but a sign that voters still lack confidence, especially regarding his economic record.
Charles’ approval rating has improved since he became king. He was supported by 55% of respondents in a recent poll by market research firm YouGov. But that makes him only the fourth most famous member of the royal family, after his son and heir, Prince William; his sister, Princess Anne; and his daughter-in-law, Catherine, Princess of Wales.
Mr. Biden and Charles have spent decades under the uncompromising scrutiny of the public, finding respite in the familiar.
Mr. Biden fled the White House most weekends to one of his homes in the seaside town of Rehoboth Beach, Del. The King is said to be not particularly fond of Buckingham Palace. He and Queen Camilla live in the cozier Clarence House when they are in London and spend weekends at Highgrove, his country retreat in Gloucestershire.
They have a shared connection in the struggle. Mr. Biden, who was stutter navigation Since he was a child, he has said that he is inspired by the movie“The King’s Speech,” describes the efforts of Charles’s grandfather, King George VI, to overcome similar speech problems.
Charles and the president also face close scrutiny over their complicated relationship with their youngest sons. Mr. Biden’s opponents have grasped Hunter Biden plea agreement on two tax misdemeanors to attack the president. The king’s relationship with Prince Harry has been in the spotlight since Harry and his wife, Meghan, retired from royal duties in 2020.
“They need to do that fatherhood in public and bright light,” said Ms. Chernock, a history professor.
Presidents and kings tend to get away with their prepared messages. Mr. Biden recently called Xi Jinping, China’s top leader, a “dictator” even as his secretary of state, Antony J. Blinken, traveled to the country to try to defuse relations. tension with Beijing.
While members of the royal family are expected to stay out of politics, the king’s political views sometimes get him into trouble. After Charles attended the 1997 handover ceremony of Hong Kong, a newspaper in London publish excerpts of a diary in which the king wrote of saluting Chinese soldiers and described the Chinese officials at the ceremony as “terrible wax figures”.
But the two men also differed in important respects.
The president is talkative and outgoing, while the king is more contemplative and reserved. In his youth, Charles was very clumsy and shy, seemingly unfit for public life. After decades on royal tours and taking on relationships, he has become adept at the art of small talk, though he’s not a born jovial like Mr Biden.
Charles’ intellectual pursuits sometimes seem unconventional. An avid reader and self-taughter, Charles has delved into topics such as architecture, organic farming, and conservation. He once proudly revealed his Aston Martin sports car powered by biofuel made from excess white wine and cheese waste.
By contrast, Mr. Biden has a 1967 gasoline-powered Corvette and often tries to relate to the working class by recalling his days. go to Washington on Amtrak.
The King is expected to adhere to the traditions of the British monarchy that Mr. Biden repeatedly refused to follow. Mr Biden twice refused to bow to the king’s mother, Queen Elizabeth II, on his mother’s advice. “You don’t bow to her,” she told him, according to his memoir, Promises To Keep. (Have not required that one must bow before the monarch – although many follow the tradition as a courtesy.)
During Mr. Biden’s four UK visits since becoming president, there are usually an undercurrent of stress.
In March, Mr. Biden made a brief stop in Northern Ireland to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement before heading to the Republic of Ireland for much more leisure. travel to one’s ancestral roots. (As the London newspapers grumble, Mr. Biden also has English roots.)
Mr. Biden did not attend Charles’ coronation in May, to their wife, Jill, and granddaughter Finnegan. In calling the king to offer condolences and congratulations, Charles invited the president to visit Britain, preparing for a meeting on Monday that American officials called a “small state visit.”
Even the logistics for this trip were not less dynamic. According to an official familiar with the plan, the White House initially questioned the need to stop at 10 Downing Street with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, as the two would meet at a NATO summit in Lithuania one day. day after that. However, for Mr. Sunak, a handshake with the president in front of his residence had political value, and the White House ultimately agreed to it.
The White House also complied with the king’s request to welcome Mr Biden at Windsor Castle, west London, instead of at the more convenient Buckingham Palace. The palace has been under renovation for years, and the official told The New York Times that the king did not want Mr Biden to see a construction site.
Asked about Biden’s skipping of the coronation ceremony, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre dismissed any notion that there was tension between the US and Britain. (Historians point out that Dwight D. Eisenhower did not attend Queen Elizabeth’s 1953 coronation.)
“The important thing is that the president will be out there, and he will have a meeting not only with the king but also with the prime minister,” Jean-Pierre said. “That’s what you’ll see: continuing to work with the UK.”
Observers of the relationship between the White House and the Royal family say the common ground Charles and Mr Biden share may warrant an intimate meeting.
“Both have been to this race many times,” said Mrs. Bedell Smith.
