United States President Joe Biden met with King Charles III on Monday, the first of its kind since the royalty leader's coronation.
The two met at Windsor Castle, and the meeting comes a day after the Democratic US leader sat down earlier in the day with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. That discussion was held in London at No. 10 Downing Street, the latter's official residence and office.
Joe Biden Meets With King Charles III
The two main focal points of Biden and the King's discussions were climate change and China. The former has been a topic that was close to King Charles III's heart since he was just a prince.
Biden later said that his talks with King Charles III "went well" after he arrived in Lithuania, posting on Twitter that it was an honor to meet with His Majesty. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan also said that the two also talked about Beijing, as per USA Today.
The White House noted that Biden and King Charles III's meeting underscored the strength of the relationship between the US and the United Kingdom and the friendship between the two regions' people.
Biden's special envoy on climate, former Sen. John Kerry, was also involved in the meeting at Windsor Castle. The White House said that following the discussions, the two leaders met with a group of leading philanthropists and investors focused on mobilizing funds to address the climate crisis.
The meeting was also part of the US president's pledge to see the relatively new royal leader after he could not attend the coronation last May. First Lady Jill Biden instead attended that event.
During the talks, Biden was particularly focused on what actions could be taken in the insurance industry to provide a safety net for certain investments. According to CNN, Kerry said that another part of the conversations focused on getting multilateral development banks and corporations to work together to reduce risk to the investments.
Talking About Various Issues
He noted a lot of capital in the world but argued that some of it was left sitting on the sidelines. Kerry added that the priority now is to accelerate the development of new technologies and the deployment of existing technology, including nuclear, solar, and wind.
While Kerry declined to comment on King Charles III's first meeting as monarch on a policy issue, he noted that the two had a "great discussion" and compared it to a briefing for His Majesty.
The situation comes as both Biden and King Charles III face challenges of the public being skeptical of their institutions. A professor of history at Boston University and scholar of modern Britain, Arianne Chernock, said that the two are older men at the pinnacle of their careers. She argued that they need to redefine what it meant to be an "older person."
Chernock added that the two leaders would need to find new ways to connect with a younger multicultural generation moving forward, said the New York Times.
