MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Biden: We all owe Queen Elizabeth something

The late monarch “conveyed, above all, the notion of service,” Biden explained

US President Joseph Biden said during this weekend in London that “we all owe something” to Queen Elizabeth II, who reminded him of his own mother.

The late monarch “had that look as if she was saying: 'Are you okay? Can I do something for you? What do you need?” Biden explained. He also stressed that she “conveyed, above all, the notion of service.”

US President Joe Biden and his wife Jill arrive at Westminster Abbey for Queen Elizabeth II's funeral https://t.co/vzkzceLCY6 pic.twitter.com/ei3gH9tW9p

— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) September 19, 2022

A meeting between Biden and British Prime Minister Liz Truss has been rescheduled for Wednesday at the UN General Assembly scheduled in New York.

“To all the people of England, all the people of the United Kingdom – our hearts go out to you,” Biden said after he spent three minutes writing a message in a condolence book at Lancaster House, a royal property near Buckingham Palace in London. “And you were fortunate to have had her for over 70 years. We all were. The world's better for her.”

Biden is among hundreds of world leaders who are gathering in Britain to attend the queen’s funeral Monday.

“This is a time of grief, but also a time of deep gratitude,” said Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who leads one of the 56 countries in the Commonwealth of Nations, an organization of many former British colonies now led by Elizabeth’s eldest son, King Charles III. “Australians give thanks for the life of service of Queen Elizabeth II, a life defined by a commitment to family, to country, to [the] Commonwealth.”

The British crown has extended a controversial funeral invitation to Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is widely believed to be responsible for ordering the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.

But leaders of Russia, Belarus, Syria, Afghanistan, and Venezuela were cast aside.