Woodrow Wilson (1913-21)

Wilson visited the UK in December 1918 after the First World War armistice.

King George V, Queen Mary and crowds of well-wishers greeted Wilson and his wife at Charing Cross Station before they stayed at Buckingham Palace:

The president and the King at the palace

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During his stay in Britain, Wilson travelled to Manchester, where he was presented with the Freedom of the City, and made a “pilgrimage of the heart” to Carlisle, his mother’s birthplace.

It was the start of several transatlantic voyages that would set the US and UK on a course of friendship.

Warren G Harding (1921-23), Calvin Coolidge (1923-29)

No state visits in either direction

Herbert Hoover (1929-33)

Hoover worked in the mining industry in the UK before his presidency, living in a property called the White House in Walton-on-Thames.

He did not visit the UK during his time in office but Elizabeth II sat next to Hoover when he was 83, long after his presidency, during lunch at the Waldorf Astoria in New York in 1957:

Franklin D Roosevelt (1933-45)

Roosevelt became the first American president to be visited by a reigning British monarch when George VI accepted an invitation in 1939.

Heralding a new era of co-operation between the countries, the King and Queen travelled to Washington and New York where they were served hot dogs for the first time.

The visit cemented the American public’s fascination with the British monarchy, showing them as unstuffy and approachable.

It was also a PR triumph for the palace. The New York Times ran the headline: “King Tries Hot Dog and Asks for More.”

The connection between the palace and White House would be particularly helpful when the US entered the Second World War at the end of 1941.

Harry S Truman (1945-53)

“When I was a little boy I read about a fairy princess, and there she is,” Truman said of Princess Elizabeth as she arrived in the US with Prince Philip in 1951.

The president greeted Princess Elizabeth at Washington National Airport

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In one comment, the president seemed to have encapsulated the allure of the royal family for his entire country.

At the White House in 1951

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George VI greeted Truman on board the USS Augusta at Plymouth in August 1945 when the president was travelling home from the Potsdam conference.

He returned to the UK in a private capacity in June 1956, visiting Winston Churchill at Chartwell, his home in Kent.

Dwight D Eisenhower (1953-61)

Eisenhower described Balmoral as his “Scottish White House” when he visited in 1959.

He had been a firm favourite with the royal family before that — one of the eight grey geldings pulling the Gold State Coach on the day of Elizabeth II’s 1953 coronation was named Eisenhower.

For the 1959 visit Prince Philip met the president at Dyce airfield before accompanying him to Balmoral, where Eisenhower was introduced to the Queen and a young Prince Charles, to whom he became known as Uncle Ike:

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Eisenhower was so taken with the Queen’s drop scones that she wrote to him after the visit including the recipe.

The personal connection between the royal family and Eisenhower would secure the relationship between the US and UK for decades to come. As he said, there were “bonds that must always remain” between the two nations.

John F Kennedy (1961-63)

Six months into his presidency, JFK visited Britain to meet Elizabeth II and Harold Macmillan.

The Queen was 35 when she and Prince Philip held a banquet at Buckingham Palace in honour of the president and his wife, Jackie:

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However, diplomatic wrangling behind the scenes about the guest list made matters tense for Buckingham Palace. Jackie said afterwards “I think the Queen resented me” — at least according to Gore Vidal — although she was back for a solo lunch the next year, and described her host as “charming”.

Plans were in place for a full state visit, which would have been a spectacle of pomp and pageantry. Kennedy’s wish to meet the Queen helped to secure the relationship with Britain, despite his assassination two years later.

Members of the Kennedy family joined Elizabeth II at the dedication of a memorial to JFK at Runnymede, Surrey, in 1965

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Lyndon B Johnson (1963-69)

Johnson was the only US president not to meet Elizabeth II during her reign. There appeared to be no great desire on either side and diaries did not appear to allow the time. Had she not been pregnant with Prince Edward she might have met Johnson at Kennedy’s funeral, but Prince Philip went in her place.

Richard Nixon (1969-74)

For Nixon, the relationship with the royal family was business over pleasure. In 1958, as vice-president, he hosted the Queen in the US for her first Thanksgiving dinner, saying that she took “a great interest in international problems and has a great desire to discuss them … we have not been chatting about home, the family and the pictures on the wall”.

The Queen, Nixon and his wife, Pat, during the 1958 visit

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A year later, he came to the UK and saw the benefit of his royal connections and how well they played to the electorate back home.

The hospitality was returned when President Nixon had lunch with the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh at Buckingham Palace in February 1969:

The Queen and President Nixon, followed by Princes Charles and Philip

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Gerald Ford (1974-77)

“The United States has never forgotten its British heritage,” Ford said in July 1976 as the US marked the 200th anniversary of independence. At a crucial fork in the road, the palace saw this as a moment to embrace and celebrate US independence, a successful strategy that has been followed since, when other nations have divorced themselves from their historic ties to the UK.

If there was an image that summed up Ford’s relationship with the royal family, it was captured during a royal visit to Washington that year when the Queen and the president danced together:

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In a rare misstep in international relations, the band played The Lady is a Tramp while the Queen was on the dance floor.

Ford, courteous and a stickler for protocol, got on well with the Queen. He did not get the opportunity to meet Prince Charles, who was serving with the Royal Navy.

Jimmy Carter (1977-81)

Carter’s presidency was the first big bump in the road for UK-US relations and showed how a kiss could badly backfire. The Democrat, who was the seventh president of the Queen’s reign, met her in London in May 1977 and was said to have breached royal protocol spectacularly by greeting the Queen Mother with a kiss on the lips.

She was reported to have said later: “He is the only man, since my dear husband died, to have had the effrontery to kiss me on the lips. I took a sharp step backwards — not quite far enough.”

The Queen, Prince Philip and the Queen Mother with Jimmy Carter at the fraught 1977 meeting

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Carter denied this account, writing in a 2015 autobiography that he had merely “kissed her lightly on the cheek”. Nevertheless, the damage was done.

Ronald Reagan (1981-89)

The 40th president recognised the benefit of the relationship between the countries and arguably did more than any other US president to foster it. Reagan was the first president to stay at Windsor Castle. A photograph of him horseriding with Elizabeth II at Windsor in 1982 was considered a thank you to the US for its support during the Falklands war:

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Reagan wrote in his diary: “I must admit, the Queen is quite an accomplished horsewoman.”

He met the Queen three times in London in the 1980s and hosted her and Prince Philip at his ranch in California in 1983:

Reagan, the Queen, Nancy Reagan and Prince Philip at Rancho Del Cielo, north of Santa Barbara

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The trip was marred by heavy rain that washed out any chance of another horse ride, or the planned grand arrival on HMS Britannia in San Francisco Harbour. But the visit was remembered for another key image of the special relationship, showing Reagan laughing uproariously at the Queen’s deadpan joke about the terrible weather:

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In recognition of their close relationship, the Queen gave Reagan an honorary knighthood when he left the White House.

George HW Bush (1989-93)

George Bush Sr and his wife, Barbara, had lunch with the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh in June 1989. Two years later there came a low point for the special relationship when the Queen was a guest at the White House. As she stepped up to give a speech on the lawn, she was obscured by microphones that had been adjusted for the president’s height, and all that could be seen of her was her hat:

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Bush later told reporters that the Queen had laughed it off. “All I got is a talking hat!” an NBC correspondent told viewers.

Bill Clinton (1993-2001)

Clinton and his wife, Hillary, visited the Queen in 1994, 1995 and in 2000.

Government documents later revealed that he had turned down an offer to take tea with the Queen when he visited in 1997, preferring to spend the visit like “a tourist” and intending to go for a curry with Tony and Cherie Blair instead.

The Blairs and the Clintons at a restaurant in London in 1997

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George W Bush (2001-09)

The president was seen winking at Elizabeth II after making a faux pas during her visit to the US in 2007. Addressing politicians and diplomats at the White House, he recalled her previous visit in 1976 but stumbled over the date saying “17… 1976”. When the crowd laughed at the slip-up, he turned to the Queen and winked:

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Turning back to continue his speech to the 7,000 guests, he said: “She gave me a look that only a mother could give a child.” Fortunately, the Queen saw the funny side.

Bush’s state visit to the UK in 2003 brought out thousands of demonstrators against the Iraq war and an effigy was toppled in Trafalgar Square:

FERNANDO CAVALCANTI FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES

Barack Obama (2009-17)

In 2011 Obama became the third US president to address the House of Commons and House of Lords during his presidency (after Clinton in 1995 and Reagan in 1982):

A year later, more Americans watched the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton on television (23 million) than watched Prince Charles and Diana’s wedding in 1981 (estimated to be 17 million), cementing the continued allure of the royal family in the US.

Obama was not immune, either. On one occasion, he had so much fun at a state banquet at Buckingham Palace that the Queen had to make it clear (via a courtier) that it was time to go to bed.

At Buckingham Palace during a state visit in 2011

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The president and his family returned for more informal visits, including a trip to see the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge at their home in Kensington Palace, where he shook hands with a young Prince George, who was ready for bed in his pyjamas and dressing gown:

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On another occasion Obama’s wife, Michelle, and their two daughters were invited into Buckingham Palace to take tea with the Queen.

Donald Trump (2017-21)

Trump has said he believes himself to have been the late Queen’s “favourite president”, although she was always careful to avoid suggestions of favouritism.

Trump was said to have breached protocol when he walked in front of her during his visit in 2018, but it was her request that the president should go first to inspect the troops:

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Trump returned the next year for a full state visit.

Joe Biden (2021-25)

Biden attended Elizabeth II’s state funeral at Westminster Abbey in 2022 and was the first president of the new reign. He went to Windsor in July 2023 after accepting an invitation from the King:

Donald Trump (2025-present)

Trump will visit the UK for a second state visit on September 17-19 2025. It is the first time that a full state visit has been granted to a US leader for a second time.

US and British flags line the Mall towards Buckingham Palace during a state visit in 2011

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David Charter is author of Royal Audience: 70 Years, 13 Presidents — One Queen’s Special Relationship with America, published by Putnam