DailyExpertNews
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President Joe Biden met with the Prince of Wales in Boston on Friday, where the two men shared “warm memories” of the late Queen Elizabeth II, according to Kensington Palace.
The Prince and Princess of Wales are in Boston for the second annual Earthshot Prize Awards Ceremony, an ambitious initiative founded by Prince William to address some of the planet’s most pressing environmental challenges, scheduled for Friday. The heir to the British throne was inspired to launch the project by President John F. Kennedy’s “moonshot” speech in 1962, when he instructed the United States to move forward with space exploration.
After Biden greeted the prince outside the JFK Presidential Library and Museum, the pair spent half an hour together and had “a warm, friendly and substantive discussion,” according to a Kensington Palace statement. The palace said the prince also shared his global, long-term ambition for the prize.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre had said earlier Friday that climate goals and mental health prioritization were expected to be discussed.
Biden was last at the Boston library in September, where he made comments about his administration’s cancer moonshot program.
The Bidens have met with the British royal family on a number of occasions, including most recently attending Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral in London last September. During their meeting in Boston, Prince William thanked Biden for traveling to the Queen’s services.
The royals’ three-day visit to Boston marks their first trip to the United States since 2014, when they visited New York. The pair also previously embarked on a whirlwind tour of California a few months after their wedding in 2011.
The couple’s trip was seen by some as an opportunity to reset perceptions in the US after a few damaging years. New seasons of the Netflix show ‘The Crown’ have revived old criticisms of the monarchy, while the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey tarnished the family’s reputation, particularly over accusations of racism.
But as the pair flew into town, controversy erupted at home after an aide resigned after making “unacceptable and deeply regrettable” comments to a black executive who visited Buckingham Palace earlier this week.
Woman at the center of Buckingham Palace controversy speaks out
In Boston, Biden later participated in a phone bank with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
The president told reporters Friday that while in Boston, he will help the second campaign of Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia by raising money for the Democratic senators’ campaign committee. A new DailyExpertNews poll conducted by SSRS shows Warnock has a slim lead over Republican challenger Herschel Walker among those likely to vote in a runoff vote on Tuesday.
DailyExpertNews previously reported that Biden was on his way to Massachusetts on Friday to lead a fundraiser for the Georgia Senate runoff race. The president will appear at the event with Democratic Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey.
This story has been updated with additional developments.