The UK Welcomes Barack Obama

Submitted by Foreign Students on Wed 25/05/11

US President Barack Obama is currently in England on day three of his first UK state visit, and has already met the Queen, Prince William and David Cameron among many other top British figures.

Mr. and Mrs. Obama arrived in Ireland on Monday and although they were only there for less than 24 hours, they managed to fit a lot in. In Ireland’s capital, Dublin, the President made an already famous speech to re-affirm the ties between the US and Ireland. To huge cheers he started the speech in true rock star fashion:

"Hello Dublin! Hello Ireland! My name is Barack Obama of the Moneygall Obamas, and I've come home to find the apostrophe that we lost somewhere along the way."

He followed this by meeting with a distant cousin of his and then sampling a traditional Irish pint of Guinness, although there was one slight hiccup when the President’s armoured car (nicknamed ‘The Beast’) got stuck on a ramp when coming out of the US embassy in Dublin. You can see the (hilarious) video below this post. On Monday evening the Presidential party decided to leave Ireland a day early to fly to England over fears of the Icelandic volcanic ash cloud moving in on Tuesday.

Table Tennis and Singing

After arriving in England on Monday night, the President spent yesterday morning in Central London with Prime Minister David Cameron. The pair visited Westminster Abbey and met a few of the choirboys, with Michelle Obama teasing her husband over his lack of singing ability. They then teamed up to play table tennis against some school children in South London, although they claimed they weren’t keeping the score so didn’t know who won!

In the afternoon they all joined the Queen and the newly married Prince William and Kate Middleton at Buckingham Palace, where they were welcomed with a ceremonial 41-gun salute.

In the evening, after exchanging gifts, the party were joined by a number of celebrity guests including Richard Branson, actor Kevin Spacey, the Archbishop of Canterbury and former Prime Minister Sir John Major for a lavish banquet.

Today is the final day of the President’s stay in the UK and he is spending the day at 10 Downing Street in talks with David Cameron. The pair are expected to discuss the conflicts in Afghanistan and Libya before they are joined by their wives and members of the military for a barbeque.