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US President Joe Biden accompanied by his wife Jill and US Ambassador Jane Hartley
Photo: Joe Giddens/AP
US President Joe Biden and his wife Jill personally said goodbye to Elizabeth II on Sunday at her coffin laid out in the British Parliament.
Television pictures showed the politician and the First Lady of the United States silently looking at the coffin from a podium on the edge of Westminster Hall in the early evening.
The US President crossed himself.
The couple were accompanied by US Ambassador to the UK Jane Hartley.
A short time later, the head of state's convoy left the parliamentary grounds.
First Lady Jill Biden waved to people who had gathered at the side of the road.
The Bidens and hundreds of other leaders, monarchs and other dignitaries are expected to attend the Queen's funeral service at Westminster Abbey on Monday.
"It's a loss that leaves a huge hole," Biden said of her death on Sunday after writing a book of condolences at Lancaster House.
Sometimes you think you'll never get over the loss, said Biden, who also spoke of the loss of his own mother.
"But like I told the king, she will be with him every step of the way." The Queen has always been concerned with treating people with dignity.
She always conveyed the "idea of service".
Laid out until Monday morning
Previously, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Spain's King Felipe VI.
bid farewell to Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Hall.
On Sunday evening there was a reception by King Charles III.
planned for Biden, Japan's Emperor Naruhito and other officials and dignitaries.
Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier is also traveling to London.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, on the other hand, did not receive an invitation – the Kremlin reacted with irritation.
The coffin of the Queen, who died on September 8 at the age of 96, has been laid out in Parliament since Wednesday.
Many thousands took the opportunity to pay their respects to their monarch, queuing for hours in a kilometer-long queue.
The public display should not end until Monday morning.
The queue, in which hundreds of thousands of people have waited for hours since Wednesday to take a look at the Queen's coffin, was closed early on Sunday afternoon and no one was allowed to queue.
beb/dpa